Carriage Services (NYSE:CSV) Lowered to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Carriage Services (NYSE:CSV) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Wednesday.

Separately, Barrington Research restated an outperform rating and issued a $38.00 price objective on shares of Carriage Services in a research note on Friday, April 19th.

Carriage Services Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE:CSV opened at $26.00 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $25.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $24.35. The company has a market capitalization of $393.64 million, a PE ratio of 12.81, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.87. Carriage Services has a twelve month low of $18.06 and a twelve month high of $35.59.

Carriage Services (NYSE:CSV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $103.49 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $98.17 million. Carriage Services had a net margin of 8.08% and a return on equity of 22.58%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.56 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Carriage Services will post 2.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Carriage Services Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be given a dividend of $0.1125 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 3rd. This represents a $0.45 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.73%. Carriage Services’s payout ratio is currently 22.17%.

Insider Transactions at Carriage Services

In other Carriage Services news, COO Carlos R. Quezada sold 1,666 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.58, for a total value of $42,616.28. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 57,062 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,459,645.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, COO Carlos R. Quezada sold 1,666 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.58, for a total transaction of $42,616.28. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 57,062 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,459,645.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Melvin C. Payne sold 3,524 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.58, for a total transaction of $90,143.92. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 1,129,809 shares in the company, valued at $28,900,514.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,372 shares of company stock valued at $369,521 in the last quarter. 12.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Mendel Money Management boosted its holdings in shares of Carriage Services by 187.5% during the first quarter. Mendel Money Management now owns 60,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,623,000 after purchasing an additional 128,648 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in Carriage Services by 741.8% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 87,879 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,376,000 after buying an additional 77,439 shares during the last quarter. Harbert Fund Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Carriage Services by 31.5% in the 4th quarter. Harbert Fund Advisors Inc. now owns 208,497 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,215,000 after buying an additional 50,000 shares during the period. Heartland Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Carriage Services by 17.6% in the 4th quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. now owns 319,046 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,979,000 after buying an additional 47,646 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Carriage Services by 23.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 210,891 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,274,000 after acquiring an additional 39,525 shares during the last quarter. 66.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Carriage Services

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.