Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. Purchases 24,345 Shares of Carriage Services, Inc. (NYSE:CSV)

Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its stake in Carriage Services, Inc. (NYSE:CSV - Free Report) by 42.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 81,365 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 24,345 shares during the period. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. owned 0.52% of Carriage Services worth $3,153,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in shares of Carriage Services during the fourth quarter worth $3,566,000. LSV Asset Management boosted its position in shares of Carriage Services by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 590,917 shares of the company's stock worth $23,548,000 after purchasing an additional 65,358 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in shares of Carriage Services by 16.9% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 237,228 shares of the company's stock worth $9,454,000 after purchasing an additional 34,342 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Carriage Services by 92.0% during the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 50,642 shares of the company's stock worth $2,018,000 after purchasing an additional 24,263 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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 worth $5,698,000 after purchasing an additional 24,098 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.46% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on CSV. Roth Mkm restated a "buy" rating and set a $51.00 price objective (up from $48.00) on shares of Carriage Services in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Carriage Services from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Barrington Research reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of Carriage Services in a report on Thursday, May 1st.

Carriage Services Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of CSV traded up $0.46 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $46.91. 65,375 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 108,678. The company has a market cap of $736.02 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.69, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.35. Carriage Services, Inc. has a 52 week low of $25.84 and a 52 week high of $47.09. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $40.82.

Carriage Services (NYSE:CSV - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.16. Carriage Services had a net margin of 11.50% and a return on equity of 21.96%. The company had revenue of $8.47 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $104.17 million. On average, equities analysts forecast that Carriage Services, Inc. will post 2.5 EPS for the current year.

Carriage Services Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th were given a dividend of $0.1125 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 5th. This represents a $0.45 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.96%. Carriage Services's payout ratio is 15.05%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, President Steven D. Metzger sold 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.60, for a total value of $121,800.00. Following the sale, the president directly owned 75,897 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,081,418.20. The trade was a 3.80% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 9,000 shares of company stock worth $362,141. Insiders own 2.60% of the company's stock.

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.