Carriage Services, Inc. (NYSE:CSV) to Issue $0.11 Quarterly Dividend

Carriage Services, Inc. (NYSE:CSV) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 18th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be given a dividend of 0.1125 per share on Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.45 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 3rd.

Carriage Services has increased its dividend payment by an average of 10.1% per year over the last three years. Carriage Services has a dividend payout ratio of 17.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Carriage Services to earn $2.52 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.45 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 17.9%.

Carriage Services Trading Up 1.8 %

NYSE CSV opened at $24.01 on Friday. Carriage Services has a one year low of $18.06 and a one year high of $35.59. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $25.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $24.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $363.44 million, a PE ratio of 11.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.84.

Carriage Services (NYSE:CSV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.28. Carriage Services had a net margin of 8.73% and a return on equity of 21.39%. The business had revenue of $98.83 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.27 million. On average, equities analysts forecast that Carriage Services will post 2.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Carriage Services

In related news, VP Paul Donald Elliott sold 6,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 38,178 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $987,664.86. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Melvin C. Payne sold 3,524 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.58, for a total value of $90,143.92. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,129,809 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,900,514.22. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Paul Donald Elliott sold 6,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 38,178 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $987,664.86. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,372 shares of company stock valued at $369,521 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 12.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Carriage Services

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd lifted its position in shares of Carriage Services by 35.3% in the 2nd quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd now owns 1,655 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,000 after acquiring an additional 432 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in Carriage Services by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 19,464 shares of the company’s stock valued at $550,000 after buying an additional 533 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in Carriage Services by 98.5% in the 1st quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,179 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 585 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in Carriage Services by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 43,686 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,234,000 after buying an additional 651 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in Carriage Services by 8.6% in the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 8,470 shares of the company’s stock valued at $275,000 after buying an additional 670 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CSV has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $38.00 target price on shares of Carriage Services in a research note on Friday. StockNews.com cut shares of Carriage Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th.

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.