Carriage Services, Inc. (NYSE:CSV) Short Interest Up 21.0% in December

Carriage Services, Inc. (NYSE:CSV) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 172,500 shares, an increase of 21.0% from the December 15th total of 142,600 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 88,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.9 days. Approximately 1.4% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling at Carriage Services

In other Carriage Services news, VP Paul Donald Elliott sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 34,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,290,791.48. The trade was a 12.77 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 11.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Carriage Services

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC lifted its position in Carriage Services by 46.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 852 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 271 shares during the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd increased its stake in shares of Carriage Services by 613.0% in the second quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd now owns 1,861 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 1,600 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in Carriage Services by 1,074.3% during the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 4,697 shares of the company’s stock valued at $154,000 after buying an additional 4,297 shares during the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC purchased a new stake in Carriage Services during the 3rd quarter valued at $204,000. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Carriage Services in the second quarter worth about $207,000. Institutional investors own 66.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Barrington Research upped their target price on shares of Carriage Services from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th.

Carriage Services Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CSV traded up $0.35 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $40.18. 99,222 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 94,357. Carriage Services has a 52-week low of $22.84 and a 52-week high of $42.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $39.74 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $34.48. The company has a market capitalization of $611.49 million, a P/E ratio of 18.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 0.93.

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

Carriage Services Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.1125 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $0.45 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.12%. Carriage Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.18%.

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.