Hilltop Holdings Inc. Acquires Shares of 13,655 Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT)

Hilltop Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 13,655 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $716,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CPRT. Optimum Investment Advisors raised its position in Copart by 141.5% during the third quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors now owns 512 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Eastern Bank acquired a new position in Copart during the third quarter worth $29,000. Crewe Advisors LLC raised its position in Copart by 98.6% during the second quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 564 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 280 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Copart by 283.3% during the second quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 575 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 425 shares during the period. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Copart during the third quarter worth $33,000. 85.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Copart

In other news, Chairman A Jayson Adair sold 251,423 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.79, for a total transaction of $16,038,273.17. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 14,436,557 shares in the company, valued at approximately $920,907,971.03. This trade represents a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 9.68% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Copart Trading Down 1.7 %

NASDAQ:CPRT traded down $1.06 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $61.91. The stock had a trading volume of 2,906,732 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,460,072. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $55.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $53.66. The company has a market capitalization of $59.65 billion, a PE ratio of 44.35 and a beta of 1.31. Copart, Inc. has a twelve month low of $46.21 and a twelve month high of $64.38.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The business services provider reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.37. The company had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. Copart had a net margin of 31.92% and a return on equity of 18.96%. The firm's revenue was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.34 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Copart, Inc. will post 1.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on CPRT shares. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Copart from $58.00 to $56.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Copart from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th.

Copart Profile

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.