Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 941,858 Shares of Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 38,876,517 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 941,858 shares during the quarter. Copart accounts for 1.1% of Principal Financial Group Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Copart were worth $2,037,130,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC lifted its stake in Copart by 40.6% in the 1st quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 37,962 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,199,000 after acquiring an additional 10,959 shares in the last quarter. Motco increased its stake in Copart by 6,085.7% in the 1st quarter. Motco now owns 10,392 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $602,000 after buying an additional 10,224 shares during the last quarter. Twin Tree Management LP bought a new stake in Copart during the 1st quarter worth about $3,877,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Copart during the 2nd quarter worth about $109,382,000. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new position in shares of Copart in the 1st quarter valued at about $644,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.78% of the company’s stock.

Copart Trading Up 4.8 %

NASDAQ CPRT opened at $55.44 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $53.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.88 and a beta of 1.27. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $52.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $53.01. Copart, Inc. has a 1 year low of $45.74 and a 1 year high of $58.58.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Copart from $58.00 to $56.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 5th.

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.