Short Interest in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) Drops By 8.1%

Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 12,340,000 shares, a decline of 8.1% from the October 15th total of 13,430,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 4,240,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.9 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Copart from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Copart from $58.00 to $56.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 5th.

Copart Price Performance

Shares of CPRT stock traded up $0.02 on Tuesday, hitting $56.65. 602,339 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,374,486. The company has a 50 day moving average of $53.13 and a 200 day moving average of $53.11. The stock has a market cap of $54.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.71 and a beta of 1.27. Copart has a 12 month low of $46.21 and a 12 month high of $58.58.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The business services provider reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.03). Copart had a return on equity of 19.55% and a net margin of 32.17%. The business had revenue of $1.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.34 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Copart will post 1.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Copart

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CPRT. Nwam LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Copart during the 1st quarter valued at $224,000. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Copart during the first quarter worth about $644,000. Jacobi Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Copart by 9.4% in the first quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 4,782 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $277,000 after buying an additional 410 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in Copart by 10.5% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 4,204 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $243,000 after buying an additional 398 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alley Investment Management Company LLC acquired a new stake in Copart during the 1st quarter worth approximately $221,000. 85.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.