Short Interest in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) Rises By 10.0%

Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of June. As of June 30th, there was short interest totalling 15,130,000 shares, a growth of 10.0% from the June 15th total of 13,760,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 4,190,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.6 days.

Copart Price Performance

Shares of Copart stock traded down $1.01 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $52.99. The company had a trading volume of 6,819,914 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,480,832. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $54.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $53.10. Copart has a fifty-two week low of $42.41 and a fifty-two week high of $58.58. The firm has a market cap of $50.99 billion, a PE ratio of 37.32 and a beta of 1.27.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The business services provider reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.11 billion. Copart had a return on equity of 20.80% and a net margin of 33.33%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.36 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Copart will post 1.43 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Cadence Bank lifted its position in Copart by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Cadence Bank now owns 31,371 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,817,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co boosted its position in shares of Copart by 0.3% during the second quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 61,852 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,350,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC grew its holdings in Copart by 2.4% during the first quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 9,054 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $524,000 after buying an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. PDS Planning Inc raised its position in Copart by 5.0% in the 1st quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 4,538 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $263,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rathbones Group PLC lifted its stake in Copart by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 7,821 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $383,000 after acquiring an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Copart from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.00.

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.