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

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

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

Carriage Services Price Performance

Shares of CSV stock traded up $0.62 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $24.19. The company had a trading volume of 8,584 shares, compared to its average volume of 89,982. Carriage Services has a 52-week low of $18.06 and a 52-week high of $35.59. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $25.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $24.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The company has a market capitalization of $366.24 million, a P/E ratio of 11.25, a P/E/G ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 0.84.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Carriage Services

In other Carriage Services news, VP Paul Donald Elliott sold 6,500 shares of the business’s 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 owns 38,178 shares in the company, valued at $987,664.86. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Steven D. Metzger sold 1,388 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.58, for a total value of $35,505.04. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 42,975 shares in the company, valued at $1,099,300.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Paul Donald Elliott sold 6,500 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 38,178 shares in the company, valued at $987,664.86. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,372 shares of company stock worth $369,521 over the last quarter. Insiders own 12.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CSV. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its stake in Carriage Services by 527.3% in the first quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 828 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 696 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Carriage Services by 98.5% during the first quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,179 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 585 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Carriage Services during the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. lifted its position in shares of Carriage Services by 107.8% during the fourth quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 2,342 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 1,215 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd lifted its position in shares of Carriage Services by 35.3% during the second quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd now owns 1,655 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 432 shares during the last quarter. 66.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.