Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Put Options on Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT)

Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) saw some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Stock traders purchased 3,913 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 120% compared to the typical volume of 1,778 put options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Copart

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Copart during the first quarter worth $28,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Copart by 79.6% during the 1st quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 528 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 234 shares during the last quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC boosted 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 valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Copart by 283.3% in the second quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 575 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 425 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in Copart by 477.7% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 595 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 492 shares during the last quarter. 85.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Copart Trading Down 7.2 %

Shares of CPRT traded down $3.81 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $49.24. 4,747,478 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,432,324. The company has a market capitalization of $47.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.53 and a beta of 1.27. Copart has a 52 week low of $42.41 and a 52 week high of $58.58. The company’s 50 day moving average is $52.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $53.84.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 4th. The business services provider reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $1.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.07 billion. Copart had a return on equity of 20.80% and a net margin of 33.33%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.34 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Copart will post 1.43 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Copart from $58.00 to $56.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Copart presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.00.

Copart Company 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.