Saturna Capital Corp Grows Stock Position in Copart, Inc. $CPRT

Saturna Capital Corp lifted its stake in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) by 140.8% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 36,754 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 21,492 shares during the quarter. Saturna Capital Corp’s holdings in Copart were worth $1,220,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

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

Copart Price Performance

Shares of Copart stock opened at $27.17 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.88 and a beta of 1.02. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $30.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $34.28. Copart, Inc. has a 12 month low of $26.85 and a 12 month high of $50.11.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CPRT. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of 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 price target on Copart in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Freedom Capital upgraded Copart to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Barclays set a $26.00 target price on Copart in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Copart from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.50.

Copart Company 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.