Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) was the target of a large decline in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 10,730,000 shares, a decline of 7.1% from the December 15th total of 11,550,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 4,140,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.6 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Copart

In other Copart news, Director Daniel J. Englander sold 235,480 shares of Copart stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.84, for a total value of $13,384,683.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Diane M. Morefield sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.01, for a total value of $1,740,300.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 20,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,160,200. This represents a 60.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 650,213 shares of company stock worth $39,199,813. Company insiders own 9.68% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Copart

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Optimum Investment Advisors increased its position in shares of Copart by 141.5% during the third quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors now owns 512 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Eastern Bank purchased a new position in shares of Copart during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Copart in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Copart in the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC lifted its stake in Copart by 1,737.1% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 643 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 608 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.78% of the company’s stock.

Copart Trading Up 0.9 %

CPRT stock traded up $0.50 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $56.90. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,335,342 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,104,842. The company’s 50 day moving average is $59.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $54.71. The stock has a market cap of $54.82 billion, a PE ratio of 40.07 and a beta of 1.33. Copart has a fifty-two week low of $47.51 and a fifty-two week high of $64.38.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 21st. The business services provider reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.37. The firm had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.10 billion. Copart had a net margin of 31.92% and a return on equity of 18.96%. Copart’s revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.34 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Copart will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.