Navellier & Associates Inc. Makes New Investment in Carriage Services, Inc. (NYSE:CSV)

Key Points

• Navellier & Associates Inc. purchased 14,288 shares of Carriage Services, Inc. (NYSE:CSV) for approximately $569,000, representing a 0.09% ownership stake at the end of the most recent quarter.
• Analysts have mixed ratings on Carriage Services, with Wall Street Zen downgrading it from a "buy" to a "hold" while Roth Mkm maintained a "buy" rating with a price target increase to $51.00.
• Carriage Services has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.1125 per share, with a payout ratio of 15.05% and an expected annualized dividend yield of 1.00%.

Navellier & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Carriage Services, Inc. (NYSE:CSV - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 14,288 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $569,000. Navellier & Associates Inc. owned 0.09% of Carriage Services at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CSV. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in Carriage Services during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,566,000. LSV Asset Management raised its stake in Carriage Services by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 590,917 shares of the company's stock worth $23,548,000 after acquiring an additional 65,358 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in Carriage Services by 16.9% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 237,228 shares of the company's stock worth $9,454,000 after acquiring an additional 34,342 shares during the period. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. raised its stake in Carriage Services by 42.7% during the 1st quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 81,365 shares of the company's stock worth $3,153,000 after acquiring an additional 24,345 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Carriage Services by 20.3% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 142,989 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,698,000 after buying an additional 24,098 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 66.46% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Carriage Services

In related news, President Steven D. Metzger sold 3,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.60, for a total value of $121,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president directly owned 75,897 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,081,418.20. This trade represents a 3.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.60% of the company's stock.

Carriage Services Price Performance

Shares of CSV stock traded up $0.67 on Wednesday, reaching $45.55. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,555 shares, compared to its average volume of 113,356. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $45.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.59. Carriage Services, Inc. has a 1 year low of $28.78 and a 1 year high of $47.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.35. The company has a market capitalization of $714.60 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.89.

Carriage Services (NYSE:CSV - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.16. Carriage Services had a net margin of 11.50% and a return on equity of 21.96%. The firm had revenue of $8.47 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $104.17 million. Analysts forecast that Carriage Services, Inc. will post 2.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Carriage Services Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th will be issued a $0.1125 dividend. This represents a $0.45 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 4th. Carriage Services's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.05%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CSV has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Roth Mkm reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $51.00 price objective (up previously from $48.00) on shares of Carriage Services in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Barrington Research reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Carriage Services in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Carriage Services from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th.

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.