Carriage Services (NYSE:CSV) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Hold

StockNews.com cut shares of Carriage Services (NYSE:CSV - Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

CSV has been the subject of several other reports. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $51.00 target price (up from $48.00) on shares of Carriage Services in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Barrington Research reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Carriage Services in a report on Thursday, May 1st.

Carriage Services Price Performance

Shares of CSV traded down $0.06 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $40.85. The company had a trading volume of 7,464 shares, compared to its average volume of 115,963. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $38.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.10. The company has a market capitalization of $639.30 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.32, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.93. Carriage Services has a 1-year low of $25.44 and a 1-year high of $42.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.72.

Carriage Services (NYSE:CSV - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.16. Carriage Services had a return on equity of 23.52% and a net margin of 8.57%. The firm had revenue of $8.47 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $104.17 million. Analysts expect that Carriage Services will post 2.5 EPS for the current year.

Carriage Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be issued a $0.1125 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th. This represents a $0.45 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.10%. Carriage Services's payout ratio is currently 15.05%.

Insider Transactions at Carriage Services

In other Carriage Services news, President Steven D. Metzger sold 2,492 shares of Carriage Services stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.01, for a total transaction of $99,704.92. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 78,897 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,156,668.97. The trade was a 3.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 2.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Carriage Services

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CSV. De Lisle Partners LLP raised its stake in shares of Carriage Services by 48.4% during the first quarter. De Lisle Partners LLP now owns 184,101 shares of the company's stock worth $7,148,000 after acquiring an additional 60,030 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC lifted its stake in Carriage Services by 120.2% in the first quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 135,893 shares of the company's stock worth $5,266,000 after purchasing an additional 74,193 shares during the last quarter. Navellier & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Carriage Services during the first quarter valued at about $569,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of Carriage Services during the first quarter valued at about $303,000. Finally, Hohimer Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Carriage Services by 4.1% in the first quarter. Hohimer Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,456 shares of the company's stock worth $250,000 after buying an additional 255 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.