Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) Reaches New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $64.38 and last traded at $63.51, with a volume of 5355112 shares. The stock had previously closed at $63.80.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Copart from $58.00 to $56.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Copart from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th.

Copart Trading Down 0.2 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $61.08 billion, a PE ratio of 44.83 and a beta of 1.27. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $54.82 and its 200-day moving average is $53.44.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 4th. The business services provider reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $1.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.07 billion. Copart had a net margin of 31.92% and a return on equity of 18.96%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.34 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Copart, Inc. will post 1.57 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Copart news, Chairman A Jayson Adair sold 251,423 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.79, for a total transaction of $16,038,273.17. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 14,436,557 shares in the company, valued at $920,907,971.03. This represents a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 9.68% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Copart

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Copart during the second quarter worth about $109,382,000. Kinsale Capital Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Copart by 17.7% during the third quarter. Kinsale Capital Group Inc. now owns 89,979 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,715,000 after buying an additional 13,554 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in shares of Copart by 162.9% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 184,417 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $10,681,000 after buying an additional 114,263 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Copart during the second quarter worth about $5,418,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of Copart by 263.0% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 651,901 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $35,307,000 after buying an additional 472,318 shares in the last quarter. 85.78% of the stock is currently 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.