Morningstar Investment Management LLC Takes $1.80 Million Position in Copart, Inc. $CPRT

Morningstar Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 54,332 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,804,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Copart during the 4th quarter worth about $569,569,000. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in Copart by 25.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 27,728,398 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,085,588,000 after acquiring an additional 5,555,101 shares during the period. Capital International Investors acquired a new stake in Copart in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $195,637,000. Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in shares of Copart by 94.0% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 9,955,661 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $389,764,000 after acquiring an additional 4,823,111 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in Copart by 21.7% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 21,982,589 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $860,618,000 after purchasing an additional 3,918,610 shares during the last quarter. 85.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on CPRT shares. Zacks Research raised Copart from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Weiss Ratings lowered Copart from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group set a $45.00 target price on Copart in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Barclays set a $26.00 price objective on Copart and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Freedom Capital raised shares of Copart to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Copart has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.50.

Copart Price Performance

CPRT opened at $27.94 on Friday. Copart, Inc. has a one year low of $26.81 and a one year high of $50.11. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $30.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $34.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.35 and a beta of 1.02.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 21st. The business services provider reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.19 billion. Copart had a return on equity of 16.63% and a net margin of 33.48%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.42 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Copart, Inc. will post 1.58 EPS for the current year.

Copart Profile

Copart (NASDAQ: CPRT) is a global provider of online vehicle auction and remarketing services, focused primarily on the sale of salvage and clean-title vehicles. The company operates a technology-driven auction platform that connects sellers — including insurance companies, vehicle finance firms, rental car companies, dealerships and fleet owners — with a broad buyer base consisting of vehicle dismantlers, recyclers, rebuilders and retail buyers. Copart’s business model centers on efficient vehicle disposition using digital bidding and logistics services to maximize recovery value for its clients.

Core services include hosting live and timed online auctions, vehicle listing and inspection support, title processing, and transportation and storage solutions.