Carriage Services (NYSE:CSV) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Carriage Services (NYSE:CSV) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning.

Separately, Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of Carriage Services in a research note on Friday, February 28th.

Carriage Services Price Performance

Carriage Services stock opened at $38.51 on Monday. Carriage Services has a 52-week low of $23.20 and a 52-week high of $42.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $586.24 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.27, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03.

Carriage Services (NYSE:CSV) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $97.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $96.72 million. Carriage Services had a net margin of 8.57% and a return on equity of 23.52%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.77 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Carriage Services will post 2.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Carriage Services Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a $0.1125 dividend. This represents a $0.45 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. Carriage Services’s payout ratio is 21.43%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CSV. Principal Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Carriage Services in the third quarter valued at approximately $232,000. Versor Investments LP purchased a new position in shares of Carriage Services in the third quarter valued at approximately $259,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in Carriage Services by 141.0% in the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 26,379 shares of the company’s stock valued at $866,000 after acquiring an additional 15,433 shares in the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Carriage Services in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,151,000. Finally, Algert Global LLC raised its holdings in Carriage Services by 22.1% in the third quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 13,904 shares of the company’s stock valued at $456,000 after acquiring an additional 2,517 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.46% of the company’s stock.

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.