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

Carriage Services, Inc. (NYSE:CSV) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 172,500 shares, a growth of 21.0% from the December 15th total of 142,600 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 88,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.9 days. Currently, 1.4% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling at Carriage Services

In other Carriage Services news, VP Paul Donald Elliott sold 5,000 shares of Carriage Services stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.78, for a total value of $188,900.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 34,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,290,791.48. The trade was a 12.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 11.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Carriage Services

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Carriage Services by 46.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 852 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 271 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in Carriage Services by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 38,414 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,031,000 after acquiring an additional 1,125 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Carriage Services by 9.2% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 15,134 shares of the company’s stock worth $406,000 after purchasing an additional 1,279 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd boosted its holdings in Carriage Services by 17.3% in the 3rd quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 9,064 shares of the company’s stock valued at $298,000 after purchasing an additional 1,337 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 DIFC Ltd grew its position in shares of Carriage Services by 613.0% during the 2nd quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd now owns 1,861 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 1,600 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.46% of the company’s stock.

Carriage Services Stock Performance

Shares of CSV stock traded up $0.35 on Friday, hitting $40.18. 99,222 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 94,357. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $39.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.48. Carriage Services has a one year low of $22.84 and a one year high of $42.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $611.49 million, a PE ratio of 18.02, a P/E/G ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03.

Carriage Services (NYSE:CSV) last issued its earnings results 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 quarter last year, the business earned $0.33 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Carriage Services will post 2.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Carriage Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be issued 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 yield of 1.12%. Carriage Services’s payout ratio is 20.18%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.