Carriage Services (NYSE:CSV) Hits New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

Carriage Services, Inc. (NYSE:CSV)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $42.13 and last traded at $41.50, with a volume of 19970 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $40.50.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Barrington Research increased 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 Up 0.7 %

The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $37.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $625.67 million, a P/E ratio of 18.43, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.93.

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

Carriage Services Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, November 4th were issued a dividend of $0.1125 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $0.45 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.09%. Carriage Services’s payout ratio is 20.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Carriage Services

In other news, VP Paul Donald Elliott sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.78, for a total value of $188,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 34,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,290,791.48. This trade represents a 12.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 12.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in Carriage Services by 8.2% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 616,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,547,000 after purchasing an additional 46,700 shares during the period. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C grew its stake in Carriage Services by 198.0% in the 2nd quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C now owns 53,584 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,438,000 after buying an additional 35,605 shares during the last quarter. Penn Mutual Asset Management bought a new position in Carriage Services in the 3rd quarter valued at about $433,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new position in Carriage Services in the 3rd quarter valued at about $4,310,000. Finally, NFJ Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in Carriage Services during the third quarter worth approximately $1,784,000. 66.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.