Welch & Forbes LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT)

Welch & Forbes LLC trimmed its position in shares of Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 42,642 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,000 shares during the period. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Copart were worth $2,089,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CPRT. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its stake in Copart by 122.5% in the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 98,215 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,232,000 after acquiring an additional 54,068 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Copart by 139.9% in the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 40,690 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,753,000 after purchasing an additional 23,726 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. boosted its stake in shares of Copart by 139.7% during the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 21,926 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $945,000 after purchasing an additional 12,777 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its position in shares of Copart by 85.1% during the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 283,193 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $12,203,000 after buying an additional 130,218 shares during the period. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its stake in Copart by 100.7% in the third quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 4,926 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $212,000 after buying an additional 2,472 shares in the last quarter. 85.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Matt Blunt sold 100,000 shares of Copart stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.06, for a total value of $5,106,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, Director Matt Blunt sold 100,000 shares of Copart stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.06, for a total value of $5,106,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas N. Tryforos sold 285,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.27, for a total value of $15,751,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 35,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,934,450. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 985,000 shares of company stock valued at $55,519,950. 10.23% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Copart Stock Performance

Shares of Copart stock traded up $0.19 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $55.93. The company had a trading volume of 3,094,588 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,508,919. Copart, Inc. has a 52-week low of $39.28 and a 52-week high of $58.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.10 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a 50 day moving average of $55.46 and a 200 day moving average of $50.87.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The business services provider reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.35 by ($0.02). Copart had a return on equity of 21.55% and a net margin of 33.41%. The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.31 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Copart, Inc. will post 1.42 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CPRT has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Copart from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. StockNews.com downgraded Copart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.00.

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.