Hartford Investment Management Co. Reduces Stake in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT)

Hartford Investment Management Co. reduced its holdings in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) by 1.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 53,574 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 555 shares during the quarter. Hartford Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Copart were worth $3,032,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S raised its holdings in Copart by 289.6% in the 4th quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 34,322 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,970,000 after purchasing an additional 25,512 shares in the last quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Copart in the first quarter worth about $604,000. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Copart by 52.2% in the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 23,862 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,350,000 after buying an additional 8,181 shares during the period. Voleon Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Copart during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,314,000. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its holdings in shares of Copart by 53.3% during the 1st quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 854,336 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $48,347,000 after acquiring an additional 297,210 shares during the period. 85.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on CPRT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Copart from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Stephens assumed coverage on shares of Copart in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $50.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Copart from $64.00 to $55.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 17th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Jeffrey Liaw sold 24,088 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.43, for a total value of $1,118,405.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 31,527 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,463,798.61. This represents a 43.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 9.68% of the company’s stock.

Copart Stock Up 0.4%

Copart stock opened at $45.51 on Friday. Copart, Inc. has a twelve month low of $45.05 and a twelve month high of $64.38. The company has a market capitalization of $44.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.94 and a beta of 1.04. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $48.47 and its 200 day moving average is $54.60.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 22nd. The business services provider reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.42. The firm had revenue of $1.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.23 billion. Copart had a return on equity of 18.20% and a net margin of 32.21%. The company’s revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.39 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Copart, Inc. will post 1.57 EPS for the current year.

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.