Van ECK Associates Corp Grows Position in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT)

Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) by 6.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 133,970 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,113 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Copart were worth $6,565,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CPRT. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in Copart in the third quarter worth about $25,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Copart by 101.0% in the 3rd quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 625 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 314 shares during the period. Bell Investment Advisors Inc increased its holdings in Copart by 87.1% in the 3rd quarter. Bell Investment Advisors Inc now owns 694 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 323 shares during the period. Annapolis Financial Services LLC increased its holdings in Copart by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 720 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 360 shares during the period. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC acquired a new position in Copart in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. 85.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Copart

In other Copart news, Chairman A Jayson Adair sold 600,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.77, for a total value of $34,662,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 19,687,980 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,137,374,604.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Copart news, Chairman A Jayson Adair sold 600,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.77, for a total value of $34,662,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 19,687,980 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,137,374,604.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas N. Tryforos sold 285,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.27, for a total value of $15,751,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 35,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,934,450. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 985,000 shares of company stock worth $55,519,950. Corporate insiders own 10.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on CPRT shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Copart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Copart from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Copart presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.00.

Copart Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CPRT opened at $55.20 on Friday. Copart, Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.06 and a 1 year high of $58.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $53.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.71 and a beta of 1.22. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $55.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $50.66.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The business services provider reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.31 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Copart, Inc. will post 1.42 earnings per share for the current year.

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.