Carriage Services (NYSE:CSV) Stock Rating Reaffirmed by Barrington Research

Carriage Services (NYSE:CSV - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "outperform" rating reiterated by investment analysts at Barrington Research in a research note issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $38.00 price objective on the stock. Barrington Research's target price would indicate a potential upside of 58.30% from the stock's current price.

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of Carriage Services from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th.

Carriage Services Trading Up 1.8 %

NYSE:CSV traded up $0.43 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $24.01. 89,946 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 91,059. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $25.38 and a 200-day moving average price of $24.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $363.44 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.17, a PEG ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.65. Carriage Services has a 12-month low of $18.06 and a 12-month high of $35.59.

Carriage Services (NYSE:CSV - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $98.83 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.27 million. Carriage Services had a return on equity of 21.39% and a net margin of 8.73%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Carriage Services will post 2.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Paul Donald Elliott sold 6,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.87, for a total transaction of $168,155.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 38,178 shares in the company, valued at approximately $987,664.86. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, VP Paul Donald Elliott sold 6,500 shares of Carriage Services stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.87, for a total transaction of $168,155.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 38,178 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $987,664.86. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Charles Fargason acquired 6,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $25.58 per share, for a total transaction of $153,480.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 14,640 shares of the company's stock, valued at $374,491.20. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,372 shares of company stock worth $369,521 in the last quarter. 12.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CSV. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its position in Carriage Services by 527.3% during the 1st quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 828 shares of the company's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 696 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Carriage Services by 98.5% during the first quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,179 shares of the company's stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 585 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Carriage Services during the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd increased its holdings in Carriage Services by 35.3% in the 2nd quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd now owns 1,655 shares of the company's stock worth $66,000 after buying an additional 432 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisor Group Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in Carriage Services by 107.8% in the 4th quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 2,342 shares of the company's stock worth $65,000 after buying an additional 1,215 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 66.46% 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.