Sovran Advisors LLC Invests $773,000 in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT)

Sovran Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 13,757 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $773,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Jensen Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Copart by 2,466.0% during the third quarter. Jensen Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,536,233 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $185,299,000 after purchasing an additional 3,398,423 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of Copart by 462.8% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,668,696 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $192,240,000 after buying an additional 3,016,795 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Copart by 335.8% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,705,354 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $149,471,000 after acquiring an additional 2,084,626 shares during the period. Comgest Global Investors S.A.S. lifted its holdings in Copart by 706.6% in the third quarter. Comgest Global Investors S.A.S. now owns 1,586,886 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $83,153,000 after acquiring an additional 1,390,146 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its stake in Copart by 1,103.1% in the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 1,062,931 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $55,698,000 after acquiring an additional 974,585 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.78% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Copart from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th.

Copart Stock Performance

Shares of CPRT opened at $59.23 on Wednesday. Copart, Inc. has a 1 year low of $48.05 and a 1 year high of $64.38. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $58.46 and a 200-day moving average of $55.29. The company has a market cap of $57.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.71 and a beta of 1.33.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The business services provider reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37. Copart had a net margin of 31.92% and a return on equity of 18.96%. The firm had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.34 EPS. Copart’s revenue was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Copart, Inc. will post 1.57 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman A Jayson Adair sold 251,423 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.79, for a total value of $16,038,273.17. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 14,436,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $920,907,971.03. This represents a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Daniel J. Englander sold 235,480 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.84, for a total transaction of $13,384,683.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 650,213 shares of company stock valued at $39,199,813 in the last three months. 9.68% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Copart Company 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.