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

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) issued its earnings results on Thursday. The business services provider reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.02, FiscalAI reports. Copart had a return on equity of 18.17% and a net margin of 33.41%.The company had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.37 EPS. Copart’s quarterly revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year.

Copart Stock Down 0.7%

NASDAQ:CPRT opened at $40.73 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $39.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.46 and a beta of 1.06. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $43.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.96. Copart has a twelve month low of $39.38 and a twelve month high of $64.38.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on CPRT. Stephens decreased their price target on Copart from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $33.00 target price (up from $32.00) on shares of Copart in a research note on Friday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Copart in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Copart from $55.00 to $52.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, HSBC set a $62.00 price objective on shares of Copart and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Copart presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $49.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Copart

In other news, CEO Jeffrey Liaw sold 24,283 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.79, for a total value of $1,087,635.57. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 31,332 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,403,360.28. This trade represents a 43.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas N. Tryforos sold 228,840 shares of Copart stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.54, for a total transaction of $10,879,053.60. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 9.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Copart by 92.1% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 14,215 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $816,000 after purchasing an additional 6,817 shares during the last quarter. Boothbay Fund Management LLC bought a new position in Copart during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $360,000. Fiduciary Trust Co raised its stake in Copart by 26.2% during the third quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co now owns 7,506 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $338,000 after buying an additional 1,559 shares during the last quarter. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc raised its stake in Copart by 18.3% during the third quarter. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc now owns 8,137 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $366,000 after buying an additional 1,261 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Copart in the third quarter worth $339,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.78% of the company’s stock.

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.