Welch & Forbes LLC Sells 1,000 Shares of Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT)

Welch & Forbes LLC reduced its position in shares of Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 42,642 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,000 shares during the period. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Copart were worth $2,089,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Copart by 122.5% in the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 98,215 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,232,000 after purchasing an additional 54,068 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its position in Copart by 139.9% in the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 40,690 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,753,000 after buying an additional 23,726 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. lifted its holdings in shares of Copart by 139.7% during the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 21,926 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $945,000 after buying an additional 12,777 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Copart by 85.1% during the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 283,193 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $12,203,000 after buying an additional 130,218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Copart by 100.7% in the third quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 4,926 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $212,000 after acquiring an additional 2,472 shares during the last quarter. 85.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Copart Trading Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ:CPRT traded up $0.19 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $55.93. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,094,588 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,508,919. The company has a market capitalization of $53.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.10 and a beta of 1.22. Copart, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.28 and a fifty-two week high of $58.58. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $55.46 and a 200-day moving average of $50.87.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The business services provider reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.35 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. Copart had a net margin of 33.41% and a return on equity of 21.55%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.31 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Copart, Inc. will post 1.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on CPRT. StockNews.com cut shares of Copart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Copart from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Copart has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Copart

In other news, Chairman A Jayson Adair sold 600,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.77, for a total transaction of $34,662,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 19,687,980 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,137,374,604.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Copart news, Director Thomas N. Tryforos sold 285,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.27, for a total transaction of $15,751,950.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 35,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,934,450. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman A Jayson Adair sold 600,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.77, for a total transaction of $34,662,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 19,687,980 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,137,374,604.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 985,000 shares of company stock valued at $55,519,950. 10.23% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Copart 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.