Sigma Planning Corp Boosts Stake in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT)

Sigma Planning Corp increased its stake in shares of Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) by 28.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 14,654 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,203 shares during the period. Sigma Planning Corp’s holdings in Copart were worth $718,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CPRT. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Copart by 100.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 97,512,662 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,201,821,000 after purchasing an additional 48,891,984 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Copart by 96.8% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 39,803,057 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,715,114,000 after purchasing an additional 19,576,719 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Copart by 84.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 17,929,180 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $772,568,000 after purchasing an additional 8,205,757 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Copart by 79.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 17,359,152 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $748,006,000 after purchasing an additional 7,666,881 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Copart by 93.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,733,860 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $634,882,000 after purchasing an additional 7,122,991 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.78% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Matt Blunt sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.06, for a total value of $5,106,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Matt Blunt sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.06, for a total value of $5,106,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman A Jayson Adair sold 600,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.77, for a total transaction of $34,662,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 19,687,980 shares in the company, valued at $1,137,374,604.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 985,000 shares of company stock worth $55,519,950. 10.23% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Copart Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of CPRT stock opened at $54.93 on Thursday. Copart, Inc. has a 52 week low of $38.35 and a 52 week high of $58.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.82 billion, a PE ratio of 39.52 and a beta of 1.22. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $54.62 and a two-hundred day moving average of $50.31.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The business services provider reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.35 by ($0.02). Copart had a net margin of 33.41% and a return on equity of 21.55%. The business had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.31 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Copart, Inc. will post 1.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Copart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Copart from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Copart presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.00.

About Copart

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.