Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Purchases 24,263 Shares of Carriage Services, Inc. (NYSE:CSV)

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its position in shares of Carriage Services, Inc. (NYSE:CSV) by 92.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 50,642 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 24,263 shares during the quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. owned about 0.33% of Carriage Services worth $2,018,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CSV. FMR LLC lifted its position in Carriage Services by 46.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 852 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 271 shares during the last quarter. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Carriage Services during the fourth quarter worth $65,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Carriage Services by 1,074.3% during the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 4,697 shares of the company’s stock worth $154,000 after purchasing an additional 4,297 shares in the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Carriage Services during the 3rd quarter valued at $204,000. Finally, EMC Capital Management boosted its position in shares of Carriage Services by 29.5% in the 4th quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 6,227 shares of the company’s stock worth $248,000 after purchasing an additional 1,419 shares in the last quarter. 66.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of Carriage Services in a research report on Friday, February 28th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Carriage Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th.

Carriage Services Price Performance

Shares of CSV opened at $38.41 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $39.99 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.51. Carriage Services, Inc. has a 1-year low of $23.20 and a 1-year high of $42.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $601.10 million, a PE ratio of 17.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.91.

Carriage Services (NYSE:CSV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.11. Carriage Services had a return on equity of 23.52% and a net margin of 8.57%. The business had revenue of $97.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $96.72 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.77 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Carriage Services, Inc. will post 2.5 EPS for the current year.

Carriage Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.1125 per share. This represents a $0.45 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. Carriage Services’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.43%.

Carriage Services 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.