Carriage Services, Inc. (NYSE:CSV) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 566,900 shares, a decrease of 6.3% from the October 31st total of 604,800 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 96,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.9 days. Currently, 3.5% of the company’s shares are short sold.
A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CSV. Nuveen Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Carriage Services during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $5,624,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Carriage Services by 14.2% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,042,017 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,809,000 after buying an additional 129,449 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in Carriage Services during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,707,000. Mendel Money Management bought a new position in Carriage Services during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,129,000. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in Carriage Services by 48.0% during the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 127,553 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,425,000 after buying an additional 41,382 shares during the last quarter. 76.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Several equities research analysts have commented on CSV shares. Barrington Research upped their price target on Carriage Services from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. ValuEngine lowered Carriage Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Sidoti upped their price target on Carriage Services from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Zacks Investment Research lowered Carriage Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th.
Carriage Services (NYSE:CSV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $66.13 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $65.69 million. Carriage Services had a net margin of 3.45% and a return on equity of 9.72%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Carriage Services will post 1.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th will be issued a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 7th. Carriage Services’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.64%.
Carriage Services Company Profile
Carriage Services, Inc provides funeral and cemetery services, and merchandise in the United States. It operates through two segments, Funeral Home Operations and Cemetery Operations. The Funeral Home Operations segment offers burial, cremation, and consultation services; removes and prepares remains; sells caskets, urns, and related funeral merchandise; and enables the use of funeral home facilities for visitation, remembrance, and transportation services.
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