Carriage Services, Inc. (NYSE:CSV) Short Interest Update

Carriage Services, Inc. (NYSE:CSV) saw a significant growth in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 276,900 shares, a growth of 32.2% from the August 15th total of 209,400 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 115,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.4 days. Currently, 2.2% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective (up previously from $32.00) on shares of Carriage Services in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Barrington Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $38.00 price objective on shares of Carriage Services in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Carriage Services news, VP Shawn R. Phillips sold 7,101 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total transaction of $213,030.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 90,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,721,000. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, VP Shawn R. Phillips sold 7,101 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total transaction of $213,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 90,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,721,000. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Shawn R. Phillips sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.73, for a total transaction of $148,650.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 97,801 shares in the company, valued at $2,907,623.73. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 13,544 shares of company stock worth $401,074. Corporate insiders own 12.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Carriage Services

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in Carriage Services by 8.2% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 616,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,547,000 after purchasing an additional 46,700 shares during the period. Heartland Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Carriage Services by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. now owns 342,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,261,000 after purchasing an additional 23,454 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Carriage Services by 201.5% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 229,718 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,166,000 after acquiring an additional 153,538 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Carriage Services by 23.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 210,891 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,274,000 after acquiring an additional 39,525 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harbert Fund Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 50,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.46% of the company’s stock.

Carriage Services Price Performance

CSV stock traded down $0.09 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $32.93. 113,425 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 110,427. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.14, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.69. Carriage Services has a 12-month low of $18.06 and a 12-month high of $35.00. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $30.96 and its 200 day moving average is $27.90. The company has a market cap of $500.87 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 0.94.

Carriage Services (NYSE:CSV) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $102.32 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.40 million. Carriage Services had a return on equity of 21.99% and a net margin of 7.47%. On average, research analysts expect that Carriage Services will post 2.34 EPS for the current year.

Carriage Services Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 5th were issued a dividend of $0.1125 per share. This represents a $0.45 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 5th. Carriage Services’s payout ratio is 22.17%.

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.