William Blair Investment Management LLC Has $202.09 Million Position in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT)

William Blair Investment Management LLC lowered its position in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) by 28.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,215,649 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 902,328 shares during the quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Copart were worth $202,089,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CPRT. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich lifted its stake in Copart by 83,893.9% in the second quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 72,354,024 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,599,410,000 after acquiring an additional 72,267,882 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Copart in the fourth quarter valued at $256,878,000. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Copart by 132.1% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,076,584 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $248,223,000 after acquiring an additional 2,319,939 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in Copart by 97.3% in the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,635,778 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $160,493,000 after acquiring an additional 1,299,577 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AKO Capital LLP lifted its stake in Copart by 55.0% in the second quarter. AKO Capital LLP now owns 2,507,818 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $228,738,000 after acquiring an additional 889,656 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on CPRT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Copart from $39.50 to $41.00 in a research note on Monday, September 18th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Copart from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 15th. Argus assumed coverage on shares of Copart in a research note on Friday, September 8th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $53.00 price objective for the company. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Copart from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.40.

Copart Price Performance

Copart stock traded up $0.48 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $50.70. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,394,565 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,036,332. Copart, Inc. has a 1-year low of $29.61 and a 1-year high of $51.53. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $45.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $46.49. The company has a market cap of $48.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.93 and a beta of 1.19.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 16th. The business services provider reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.02. Copart had a net margin of 31.99% and a return on equity of 22.46%. The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $987.90 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.25 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Copart, Inc. will post 1.42 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Copart

In other Copart news, Director Stephen Fisher sold 160,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.69, for a total value of $7,310,400.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director Matt Blunt sold 49,435 shares of Copart stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.11, for a total transaction of $2,131,142.85. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Stephen Fisher sold 160,000 shares of Copart stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.69, for a total transaction of $7,310,400.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 10.23% of the company’s stock.

Copart 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.