Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. Raises Stake in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT)

Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT – Get Rating) by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,815 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 557 shares during the quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Copart were worth $1,576,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CPRT. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its holdings in Copart by 63,632.6% in the 3rd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,558,262 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $165,799,000 after buying an additional 1,555,817 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Copart by 23.0% in the 2nd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,879,233 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $530,178,000 after buying an additional 913,619 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its holdings in Copart by 54.0% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,094,014 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $222,840,000 after buying an additional 734,310 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in Copart by 324.3% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 674,754 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $73,319,000 after buying an additional 515,729 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Copart by 93.7% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,028,591 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $109,442,000 after purchasing an additional 497,663 shares during the period. 45.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Copart Trading Up 2.8 %

CPRT opened at $70.01 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $67.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $61.92. Copart, Inc. has a 12-month low of $51.10 and a 12-month high of $71.68. The firm has a market cap of $33.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.12 and a beta of 1.21.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 21st. The business services provider reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.05. Copart had a return on equity of 22.93% and a net margin of 29.45%. The firm had revenue of $956.72 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $934.36 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.55 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Copart, Inc. will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CPRT. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Copart from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 22nd. StockNews.com began coverage on Copart in a report on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Guggenheim increased their price target on Copart from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $78.00 price target on shares of Copart in a report on Tuesday, February 21st.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Matt Blunt sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.36, for a total transaction of $2,080,800.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 11.19% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Copart

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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.