Carriage Services (NYSE:CSV) Reaches New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Carriage Services, Inc. (NYSE:CSV)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Monday . The company traded as high as $40.80 and last traded at $40.66, with a volume of 42789 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $39.21.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CSV has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price (up from $32.00) on shares of Carriage Services in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Barrington Research lifted their price objective on Carriage Services from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st.

Carriage Services Stock Performance

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $34.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $31.18. The company has a market capitalization of $616.41 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.72.

Carriage Services (NYSE:CSV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.19. Carriage Services had a return on equity of 23.52% and a net margin of 8.57%. The business had revenue of $100.69 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.49 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.33 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Carriage Services, Inc. will post 2.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Carriage Services Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, November 4th will be given a dividend of $0.1125 per share. This represents a $0.45 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 4th. Carriage Services’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Paul Donald Elliott sold 5,000 shares of Carriage Services stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.78, for a total value of $188,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 34,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,290,791.48. The trade was a 12.77 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 11.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Carriage Services

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Carriage Services by 228.6% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 20,433 shares of the company’s stock worth $671,000 after purchasing an additional 14,215 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Carriage Services by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 314,864 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,339,000 after buying an additional 13,126 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd increased its position in Carriage Services by 17.3% in the third quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 9,064 shares of the company’s stock worth $298,000 after buying an additional 1,337 shares during the period. Zacks Investment Management bought a new stake in Carriage Services in the third quarter valued at $312,000. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Carriage Services by 1,074.3% during the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 4,697 shares of the company’s stock valued at $154,000 after acquiring an additional 4,297 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 66.46% of the company’s stock.

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.