Carriage Services (NYSE:CSV) Sets New 52-Week High on Analyst Upgrade

Carriage Services, Inc. (NYSE:CSV) shares hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday after Barrington Research raised their price target on the stock from $39.00 to $45.00. Barrington Research currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Carriage Services traded as high as $36.99 and last traded at $36.49, with a volume of 9060 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $32.66.

Separately, Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price (up from $32.00) on shares of Carriage Services in a research note on Friday, August 2nd.

Insider Buying and Selling at Carriage Services

In other news, VP Shawn R. Phillips sold 7,101 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total value of $213,030.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 90,700 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,721,000. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, VP Shawn R. Phillips sold 7,101 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total value of $213,030.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 90,700 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,721,000. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Shawn R. Phillips sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.73, for a total value of $148,650.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 97,801 shares in the company, valued at $2,907,623.73. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 12.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in Carriage Services by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 616,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,547,000 after acquiring an additional 46,700 shares during the last quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Carriage Services by 7.4% during the 1st quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. now owns 342,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,261,000 after buying an additional 23,454 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of Carriage Services by 201.5% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 229,718 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,166,000 after buying an additional 153,538 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Carriage Services by 10.7% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 141,262 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,791,000 after buying an additional 13,598 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new position in shares of Carriage Services during the third quarter worth about $4,310,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.46% of the company’s stock.

Carriage Services Stock Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $32.53 and a 200 day moving average of $29.46. The company has a market capitalization of $561.67 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.14.

Carriage Services (NYSE:CSV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.10. Carriage Services had a net margin of 8.57% and a return on equity of 24.11%. The firm had revenue of $102.32 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.40 million. As a group, analysts predict that Carriage Services, Inc. will post 2.34 EPS for the current year.

Carriage Services Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, November 4th will be issued a $0.1125 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 4th. This represents a $0.45 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.22%. Carriage Services’s payout ratio is 20.18%.

Carriage Services Company Profile

Carriage Services, Inc provides funeral and cemetery services, and merchandise in the United States. It operates in two segments, Funeral Home Operations and Cemetery Operations. The Funeral Home Operations segment provides consultation services; funeral home facilities for visitation and memorial services; transportation services; removal and preparation of remains; sale of caskets and urns; cremation services; and related funeral merchandise.