Brokerages Set Carriage Services, Inc. (NYSE:CSV) Target Price at $59.00

Carriage Services, Inc. (NYSE:CSV) has been assigned an average rating of “Buy” from the six research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $59.00.

A number of analysts recently issued reports on CSV shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Carriage Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. B. Riley reissued a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 target price (up previously from $52.00) on shares of Carriage Services in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Zacks Research raised shares of Carriage Services to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Carriage Services in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Carriage Services in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Carriage Services news, VP Shane Pudenz sold 13,027 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.36, for a total value of $577,877.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 14,930 shares in the company, valued at $662,294.80. This represents a 46.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 2.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Carriage Services

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CSV. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in shares of Carriage Services by 1,736.0% during the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 918 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 868 shares during the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of Carriage Services during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Carriage Services by 22.1% during the 2nd quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,450 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 262 shares during the last quarter. Simplex Trading LLC boosted its stake in shares of Carriage Services by 408.7% during the 2nd quarter. Simplex Trading LLC now owns 1,526 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 1,226 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Carriage Services during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $71,000. 66.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Carriage Services Price Performance

Carriage Services stock opened at $47.81 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $750.55 million, a PE ratio of 14.36, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $44.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.19. Carriage Services has a 52 week low of $30.15 and a 52 week high of $49.41.

Carriage Services (NYSE:CSV) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $102.15 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.36 million. Carriage Services had a net margin of 12.85% and a return on equity of 21.63%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Carriage Services will post 2.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Carriage Services Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were given a dividend of $0.1125 per share. This represents a $0.45 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. Carriage Services’s dividend payout ratio is 13.51%.

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.