Howard Capital Management Inc. Raises Stock Position in Copart, Inc. $CPRT

Howard Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) by 17.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 23,910 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,520 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Copart were worth $1,173,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CPRT. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Copart by 2.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 104,263,922 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,900,295,000 after acquiring an additional 2,134,890 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Copart by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 39,409,377 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,230,177,000 after purchasing an additional 1,249,687 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Copart by 15.9% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 15,345,768 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $868,417,000 after purchasing an additional 2,106,656 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Copart by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,490,237 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $537,052,000 after purchasing an additional 658,329 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi increased its holdings in shares of Copart by 32.5% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 9,380,026 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $531,256,000 after purchasing an additional 2,299,192 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.78% of the company’s stock.

Copart Trading Down 0.2%

NASDAQ:CPRT opened at $44.07 on Wednesday. Copart, Inc. has a 12 month low of $43.32 and a 12 month high of $64.38. The firm has a market cap of $42.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.54 and a beta of 1.03. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $46.25 and a two-hundred day moving average of $50.24.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 4th. The business services provider reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.04. Copart had a return on equity of 18.17% and a net margin of 33.41%.The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.33 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Copart, Inc. will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on CPRT shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Copart in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Stephens cut their price target on Copart from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Copart from $64.00 to $55.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Copart from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, HSBC set a $62.00 price objective on Copart and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $54.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Thomas N. Tryforos sold 228,840 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.54, for a total transaction of $10,879,053.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey Liaw sold 24,283 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.79, for a total value of $1,087,635.57. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 31,332 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,403,360.28. This trade represents a 43.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 9.68% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.