Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.02 EPS

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The business services provider reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.02, Briefing.com reports. The business had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $987.90 million. Copart had a net margin of 31.99% and a return on equity of 22.46%. The company’s revenue was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.25 earnings per share.

Copart Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ CPRT opened at $50.22 on Friday. Copart has a 52-week low of $29.61 and a 52-week high of $51.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.23 and a beta of 1.19. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $45.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $46.39.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CPRT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Copart from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 30th. Argus initiated coverage on Copart in a research report on Friday, September 8th. They set a “buy” rating and a $53.00 price target on the stock. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Copart from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Copart from $39.50 to $41.00 in a research report on Monday, September 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Copart currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.40.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Trading of Copart

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CPRT. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Copart by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,968,882 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,881,905,000 after buying an additional 270,867 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Copart by 2.2% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,296,080 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $697,646,000 after acquiring an additional 197,609 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Copart by 2.0% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,913,464 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $670,382,000 after acquiring an additional 172,891 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Copart by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,840,297 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $607,312,000 after purchasing an additional 48,523 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Copart in the 4th quarter valued at $256,878,000. 79.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.