Northern Trust Corp Raises Stake in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT)

Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) by 12.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,865,301 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 971,940 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp owned approximately 0.92% of Copart worth $508,780,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Copart by 2.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 38,876,517 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,037,130,000 after acquiring an additional 941,858 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in Copart by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 6,042,734 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $316,639,000 after purchasing an additional 21,710 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in Copart in the third quarter valued at about $317,000. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Copart by 7.8% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 88,324 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,628,000 after purchasing an additional 6,421 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Copart by 6.5% in the third quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 104,650 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,484,000 after buying an additional 6,385 shares during the period. 85.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Copart Price Performance

CPRT opened at $60.51 on Wednesday. Copart, Inc. has a 12-month low of $48.05 and a 12-month high of $64.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $58.46 billion, a PE ratio of 40.61 and a beta of 1.22. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $56.39 and its 200 day moving average price is $57.20.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.13 billion. Copart had a net margin of 32.27% and a return on equity of 19.31%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Copart, Inc. will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Argus lowered Copart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director James E. Meeks sold 100,000 shares of Copart stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.00, for a total value of $5,400,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Steven D. Cohan sold 5,003 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.01, for a total transaction of $300,230.03. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 200,000 shares of company stock valued at $11,401,000 in the last quarter. Insiders own 9.68% 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.