Nicholas Company Inc. Sells 141,298 Shares of Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT)

Nicholas Company Inc. trimmed its holdings in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) by 13.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 934,622 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 141,298 shares during the quarter. Nicholas Company Inc. owned approximately 0.10% of Copart worth $53,638,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CPRT. Madison Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Copart in the fourth quarter worth $253,686,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Copart by 23.3% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 19,440,046 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,115,664,000 after buying an additional 3,667,534 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Copart by 335.8% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,705,354 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $149,471,000 after buying an additional 2,084,626 shares during the last quarter. Comgest Global Investors S.A.S. lifted its position in Copart by 706.6% in the third quarter. Comgest Global Investors S.A.S. now owns 1,586,886 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $83,153,000 after buying an additional 1,390,146 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Copart in the fourth quarter worth $69,162,000. 85.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Copart Trading Up 0.7 %

NASDAQ:CPRT opened at $52.65 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $50.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.34 and a beta of 1.30. Copart, Inc. has a twelve month low of $48.05 and a twelve month high of $64.38. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $56.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $55.99.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.13 billion. Copart had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 32.27%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Copart, Inc. will post 1.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Copart

In related news, Director Matt Blunt sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.66, for a total transaction of $2,883,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Diane M. Morefield sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.01, for a total value of $1,740,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,160,200. This trade represents a 60.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 315,480 shares of company stock valued at $18,007,983. 9.68% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on CPRT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Copart from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Argus downgraded Copart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday.

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.