Barrington Research Reaffirms Outperform Rating for Carriage Services (NYSE:CSV)

Carriage Services (NYSE:CSV)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating restated by equities researchers at Barrington Research in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $38.00 price target on the stock. Barrington Research’s target price indicates a potential upside of 57.09% from the company’s current price.

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Carriage Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th.

Carriage Services Price Performance

NYSE CSV traded up $0.62 on Friday, reaching $24.19. 8,584 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 89,982. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $25.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $24.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32. The company has a market cap of $366.24 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.25, a P/E/G ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 0.84. Carriage Services has a 12 month low of $18.06 and a 12 month high of $35.59.

Carriage Services (NYSE:CSV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $98.83 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.27 million. Carriage Services had a return on equity of 21.39% and a net margin of 8.73%. As a group, research analysts predict that Carriage Services will post 2.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Carriage Services news, VP Paul Donald Elliott sold 6,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.87, for a total transaction of $168,155.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 38,178 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $987,664.86. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, VP Paul Donald Elliott sold 6,500 shares of Carriage Services stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.87, for a total transaction of $168,155.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 38,178 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $987,664.86. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Melvin C. Payne sold 3,524 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.58, for a total transaction of $90,143.92. Following the transaction, the director now owns 1,129,809 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,900,514.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,372 shares of company stock valued at $369,521 over the last three months. 12.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Sanders Morris Harris LLC bought a new position in shares of Carriage Services in the first quarter valued at approximately $454,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Carriage Services by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 899,285 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,491,000 after acquiring an additional 44,946 shares during the last quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Carriage Services in the 4th quarter worth approximately $154,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in Carriage Services in the 4th quarter worth approximately $421,000. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its position in Carriage Services by 333.8% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 21,078 shares of the company’s stock worth $527,000 after purchasing an additional 16,219 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 66.46% of the company’s stock.

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.