American Century Companies Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT)

American Century Companies Inc. cut its stake in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) by 21.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,338,008 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 654,952 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Copart were worth $134,178,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Plancorp LLC purchased a new position in Copart in the fourth quarter valued at about $205,000. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its holdings in Copart by 46.3% in the fourth quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 83,089 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,768,000 after buying an additional 26,305 shares in the last quarter. Independent Solutions Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Copart by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Independent Solutions Wealth Management LLC now owns 67,900 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,897,000 after buying an additional 1,286 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its holdings in Copart by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 245,184 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $14,069,000 after buying an additional 12,206 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. increased its stake in shares of Copart by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 495,804 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $28,449,000 after purchasing an additional 18,988 shares in the last quarter. 85.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

In related news, Director Matt Blunt sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.66, for a total transaction of $2,883,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director James E. Meeks sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.00, for a total transaction of $5,400,000.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 385,480 shares of company stock worth $21,667,683. 9.68% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Copart Price Performance

Shares of CPRT opened at $53.63 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $56.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.03. Copart, Inc. has a 1-year low of $48.05 and a 1-year high of $64.38. The stock has a market cap of $51.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.99 and a beta of 1.30.

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

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.