Merit Financial Group LLC Invests $332,000 in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT)

Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 6,774 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $332,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Copart by 64.1% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,441,839 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $70,448,000 after buying an additional 563,233 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in Copart by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,848,048 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $139,554,000 after purchasing an additional 44,248 shares during the period. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp grew its position in Copart by 57.9% in the 4th quarter. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 63,521 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,113,000 after purchasing an additional 23,304 shares during the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP increased its stake in Copart by 29.0% in the fourth quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 1,167,186 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $57,193,000 after acquiring an additional 262,499 shares during the period. Finally, Checchi Capital Advisers LLC lifted its position in shares of Copart by 72.5% during the 3rd quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 6,228 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $268,000 after buying an additional 2,618 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on CPRT shares. StockNews.com lowered Copart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.00.

Copart Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ CPRT opened at $55.16 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $53.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.68 and a beta of 1.22. Copart, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.57 and a 12-month high of $58.58. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $55.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $50.98.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Matt Blunt sold 100,000 shares of Copart stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.06, for a total transaction of $5,106,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, Director Matt Blunt sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.06, for a total value of $5,106,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Chairman A Jayson Adair sold 600,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.77, for a total value of $34,662,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 19,687,980 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,137,374,604.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 985,000 shares of company stock valued at $55,519,950 over the last 90 days. 10.23% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.