Sanders Morris Harris LLC Makes New $454,000 Investment in Carriage Services, Inc. (NYSE:CSV)

Sanders Morris Harris LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Carriage Services, Inc. (NYSE:CSV) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 16,790 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $454,000. Sanders Morris Harris LLC owned approximately 0.11% of Carriage Services as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Parallel Advisors LLC bought a new position in Carriage Services in the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its position in Carriage Services by 32.1% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,688 shares of the company’s stock worth $92,000 after buying an additional 897 shares during the last quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Carriage Services in the fourth quarter worth approximately $154,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new position in Carriage Services during the third quarter valued at approximately $210,000. Finally, Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Carriage Services by 21.5% during the fourth quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 9,479 shares of the company’s stock worth $237,000 after acquiring an additional 1,675 shares in the last quarter. 66.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Carriage Services Trading Up 1.3 %

Carriage Services stock traded up $0.36 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $27.28. 178,812 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 141,484. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.24, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.57. Carriage Services, Inc. has a 52-week low of $18.06 and a 52-week high of $35.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $413.56 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.44, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.92. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $26.41 and its 200 day moving average price is $25.53.

Carriage Services (NYSE:CSV) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $103.49 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $98.17 million. Carriage Services had a return on equity of 22.04% and a net margin of 8.08%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.56 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Carriage Services, Inc. will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Carriage Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 6th were issued a dividend of $0.1125 per share. This represents a $0.45 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 3rd. Carriage Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.17%.

Insider Transactions at Carriage Services

In related news, CFO Lance Kian Granmayeh sold 3,282 shares of Carriage Services stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.31, for a total transaction of $96,195.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $817,162.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Carriage Services news, CFO Lance Kian Granmayeh sold 3,282 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.31, for a total value of $96,195.42. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $817,162.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Shawn R. Phillips sold 10,593 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.57, for a total value of $270,863.01. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 113,348 shares in the company, valued at $2,898,308.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 12.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CSV. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $38.00 price objective on shares of Carriage Services in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $32.00 price target on shares of Carriage Services in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Carriage Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st.

Carriage Services 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.