BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. Boosts Holdings in Copart, Inc. $CPRT

BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. lifted its stake in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) by 6.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,510,276 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 202,986 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. owned 0.36% of Copart worth $172,250,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Copart by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 104,263,922 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,900,295,000 after purchasing an additional 2,134,890 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Copart by 15.9% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 15,345,768 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $868,417,000 after acquiring an additional 2,106,656 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Copart by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,490,237 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $537,052,000 after acquiring an additional 658,329 shares during the period. Amundi lifted its position in Copart by 32.5% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 9,380,026 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $531,256,000 after acquiring an additional 2,299,192 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Copart by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,927,156 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $505,188,000 after acquiring an additional 61,855 shares during the period. 85.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Thomas N. Tryforos sold 228,840 shares of Copart stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.54, for a total value of $10,879,053.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey Liaw sold 24,283 shares of Copart stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.79, for a total transaction of $1,087,635.57. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 31,332 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,403,360.28. This represents a 43.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 9.68% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on CPRT shares. Stephens lowered their price target on shares of Copart from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 5th. HSBC set a $62.00 price target on shares of Copart and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Copart from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Copart in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Copart from $64.00 to $55.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Copart has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $54.50.

Copart Stock Performance

Shares of Copart stock opened at $42.85 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.47 billion, a PE ratio of 26.78 and a beta of 1.03. Copart, Inc. has a 52-week low of $41.96 and a 52-week high of $64.38. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $45.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $49.57.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, September 4th. The business services provider reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.14 billion. Copart had a net margin of 33.41% and a return on equity of 18.17%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Copart, Inc. will post 1.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.