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

Carriage Services, Inc. (NYSE:CSV) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 142,600 shares, an increase of 13.2% from the November 30th total of 126,000 shares. Currently, 1.1% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 86,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.7 days.

Carriage Services Price Performance

Shares of CSV stock traded up $0.20 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $39.85. The stock had a trading volume of 65,858 shares, compared to its average volume of 103,803. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03. The company has a market cap of $606.64 million, a P/E ratio of 17.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.93. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $38.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $33.51. Carriage Services has a 12-month low of $22.84 and a 12-month high of $42.13.

Carriage Services (NYSE:CSV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $100.69 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.49 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.33 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Carriage Services will post 2.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Carriage Services Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 4th were paid a dividend of $0.1125 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $0.45 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.13%. Carriage Services’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.18%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Barrington Research increased their price objective on Carriage Services from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st.

Insider Buying and Selling at Carriage Services

In other news, VP Paul Donald Elliott sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 34,166 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,290,791.48. This trade represents a 12.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 11.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Carriage Services

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CSV. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C boosted its position 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 acquired a new stake in shares of Carriage Services during the third quarter valued at about $433,000. NFJ Investment Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Carriage Services during the third quarter worth about $1,784,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Carriage Services during the third quarter worth about $4,310,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.46% of the company’s stock.

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.