Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC Raises Stake in Carriage Services, Inc. (NYSE:CSV)

Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Carriage Services, Inc. (NYSE:CSV) by 22.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 27,357 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,093 shares during the quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Carriage Services were worth $1,090,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CSV. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Carriage Services by 46.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 852 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 271 shares during the period. Point72 DIFC Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Carriage Services by 613.0% during the second quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd now owns 1,861 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 1,600 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Carriage Services by 1,074.3% during the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 4,697 shares of the company’s stock valued at $154,000 after purchasing an additional 4,297 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Carriage Services in the third quarter valued at about $204,000. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Carriage Services in the second quarter valued at about $207,000. 66.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Carriage Services news, VP Paul Donald Elliott sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.78, for a total value of $188,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 34,166 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,290,791.48. The trade was a 12.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 12.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Carriage Services Stock Performance

CSV stock opened at $39.60 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $39.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $35.00. The company has a market capitalization of $602.83 million, a P/E ratio of 17.76, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.93. Carriage Services, Inc. has a 1-year low of $22.96 and a 1-year high of $42.13.

Carriage Services (NYSE:CSV) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $100.69 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.49 million. Carriage Services had a net margin of 8.57% and a return on equity of 23.52%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Carriage Services, Inc. will post 2.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Carriage Services Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be issued a $0.1125 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $0.45 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.14%. Carriage Services’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.18%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Barrington Research lifted their price objective on Carriage Services from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th.

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.