Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at Argus

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) was downgraded by investment analysts at Argus from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports.

Separately, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Copart from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th.

Copart Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CPRT opened at $52.65 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $56.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $55.99. Copart has a 1 year low of $48.05 and a 1 year high of $64.38. The firm has a market cap of $50.86 billion, a PE ratio of 35.34 and a beta of 1.30.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.02. Copart had a net margin of 32.27% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.13 billion. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Copart will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Copart

In other Copart news, Director Daniel J. Englander sold 235,480 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.84, for a total value of $13,384,683.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Diane M. Morefield sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.01, for a total transaction of $1,740,300.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,160,200. This trade represents a 60.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 315,480 shares of company stock worth $18,007,983 over the last three months. 9.68% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Copart

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CPRT. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC raised its stake in Copart by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 9,747 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $577,000 after buying an additional 175 shares during the period. Sandy Spring Bank raised its position in shares of Copart by 59.5% during the fourth quarter. Sandy Spring Bank now owns 472 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the period. Cadence Bank raised its position in shares of Copart by 0.6% during the third quarter. Cadence Bank now owns 31,549 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,653,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the period. Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Copart by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 6,007 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $345,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Everpar Advisors LLC grew its position in Copart by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC now owns 4,811 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $276,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.78% of the company’s stock.

Copart Company Profile

Copart, Inc provides online auctions and vehicle remarketing services. It offers a range of services for processing and selling vehicles over the Internet through its Virtual Bidding Third Generation Internet auction-style sales technology on behalf of vehicle sellers, insurance companies, banks and finance companies, charities, and fleet operators and dealers, as well as individual owners.