Carriage Services, Inc. (NYSE:CSV) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

by · The Markets Daily

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Read Our Latest Research Report on CSV

Carriage Services Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE CSV traded up $0.20 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $39.85. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 65,858 shares, compared to its average volume of 103,803. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $38.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $33.46. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $606.64 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.87, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.93. Carriage Services has a fifty-two week low of $22.84 and a fifty-two week high of $42.13.

Carriage Services (NYSE:CSV – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.49 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.33 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Carriage Services will post 2.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Carriage Services Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, November 4th were given 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 (DPR) is presently 20.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Paul Donald Elliott sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.78, for a total transaction of $188,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 34,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,290,791.48. This 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 available at this hyperlink. 11.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new position in shares of Carriage Services in the third quarter valued at $4,310,000. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Carriage Services in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,151,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Carriage Services by 94.7% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 118,891 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,903,000 after purchasing an additional 57,821 shares during the last quarter. NFJ Investment Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Carriage Services in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,784,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in Carriage Services by 8.2% in the 2nd 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 last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.46% of the company’s stock.

Carriage Services Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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