Handelsbanken Fonder AB Buys 97,875 Shares of Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its stake in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT - Free Report) by 21.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 557,126 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 97,875 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB owned 0.06% of Copart worth $31,973,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Copart by 2.5% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 38,876,517 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,037,130,000 after acquiring an additional 941,858 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Copart by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 34,157,967 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,789,877,000 after purchasing an additional 120,939 shares in the last quarter. Edgewood Management LLC grew its position in Copart by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 20,555,713 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,077,119,000 after purchasing an additional 125,220 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Copart by 1.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 18,763,926 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $979,547,000 after buying an additional 291,580 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Copart by 0.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 6,042,734 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $316,639,000 after buying an additional 21,710 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.78% of the company's stock.

Copart Price Performance

NASDAQ CPRT traded down $1.61 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $56.61. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,227,988 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,550,620. Copart, Inc. has a 12 month low of $48.05 and a 12 month high of $64.38. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $58.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $55.61. The company has a market cap of $54.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.87 and a beta of 1.33.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.13 billion. Copart had a net margin of 31.92% and a return on equity of 18.96%. As a group, research analysts predict that Copart, Inc. will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman A Jayson Adair sold 251,423 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.79, for a total value of $16,038,273.17. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 14,436,557 shares in the company, valued at $920,907,971.03. This represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Daniel J. Englander sold 235,480 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 650,213 shares of company stock valued at $39,199,813. Company insiders own 9.68% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target 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.

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.