Korea Investment CORP Increases Stock Holdings in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT)

Korea Investment CORP lifted its stake in shares of Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) by 88.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 529,666 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 249,262 shares during the quarter. Korea Investment CORP owned about 0.05% of Copart worth $30,398,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CPRT. Madison Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Copart during the 4th quarter worth approximately $253,686,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $1,115,664,000 after buying an additional 3,667,534 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Copart by 335.8% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,705,354 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $149,471,000 after acquiring an additional 2,084,626 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Copart in the fourth quarter worth $69,162,000. Finally, Amundi lifted its holdings in Copart by 18.2% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 7,080,834 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $402,332,000 after acquiring an additional 1,090,841 shares during the period. 85.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Copart Price Performance

NASDAQ CPRT opened at $55.15 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $56.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.14. The company has a market capitalization of $53.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.01 and a beta of 1.30. Copart, Inc. has a 1-year low of $48.05 and a 1-year high of $64.38.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.13 billion. Copart had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 32.27%. On average, research analysts expect that Copart, Inc. will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Argus cut shares of Copart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Copart

In related news, Director James E. Meeks sold 100,000 shares of Copart stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.00, for a total transaction of $5,400,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Daniel J. Englander sold 235,480 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.84, for a total transaction of $13,384,683.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 385,480 shares of company stock valued at $21,667,683 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 9.68% 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.