Short Interest in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) Decreases By 7.1%

Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) was the target of a large decrease in short interest during the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 10,560,000 shares, a decrease of 7.1% from the January 15th total of 11,370,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 3,850,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.7 days.

Copart Price Performance

CPRT traded down $0.44 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $59.39. 2,392,531 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,039,759. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $58.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $55.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $57.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.82 and a beta of 1.33. Copart has a 52 week low of $48.05 and a 52 week high of $64.38.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Thomas N. Tryforos sold 83,310 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.86, for a total value of $5,153,556.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,850 shares in the company, valued at approximately $485,601. This represents a 91.39 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Daniel J. Englander sold 235,480 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.84, for a total value of $13,384,683.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 650,213 shares of company stock worth $39,199,813 in the last ninety days. 9.68% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Creative Planning increased its position in Copart by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 141,602 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,420,000 after buying an additional 1,646 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its position in Copart by 2.0% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 90,061 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,719,000 after purchasing an additional 1,728 shares in the last quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC lifted its position in Copart by 4.9% during the third quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 5,673 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $297,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. Net Worth Advisory Group bought a new stake in Copart during the third quarter valued at about $669,000. Finally, Capital Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Copart by 22.6% during the third quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 30,876 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,618,000 after acquiring an additional 5,697 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 target price on Copart from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th.

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.