JPMorgan Chase & Co. Increases Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) Price Target to $52.00

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) had its target price increased by equities research analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $48.00 to $52.00 in a report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “neutral” rating on the business services provider’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price objective would indicate a potential downside of 8.27% from the company’s current price.

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded Copart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.00.

Copart Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of Copart stock opened at $56.69 on Monday. Copart has a 52-week low of $36.83 and a 52-week high of $58.58. The company has a market cap of $54.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.78 and a beta of 1.22. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $53.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $49.50.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Matt Blunt sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.06, for a total transaction of $5,106,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Copart news, Chairman A Jayson Adair sold 600,000 shares of Copart stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.77, for a total transaction of $34,662,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 19,687,980 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,137,374,604.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Matt Blunt sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.06, for a total transaction of $5,106,000.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 985,000 shares of company stock valued at $55,519,950 over the last 90 days. 10.23% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Copart

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CPRT. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Copart in the first quarter worth $29,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC acquired a new stake in Copart in the second quarter valued at $38,000. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Copart in the second quarter valued at $38,000. Hollencrest Capital Management boosted its position in shares of Copart by 92.1% in the 1st quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 438 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Copart during the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.78% of the company’s stock.

About Copart

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.