Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires New Position in Carriage Services, Inc. (NYSE:CSV)

Principal Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Carriage Services, Inc. (NYSE:CSV) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 7,076 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $232,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CSV. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Carriage Services by 46.6% in 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 last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd boosted its stake in Carriage Services by 613.0% during the second quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd now owns 1,861 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 1,600 shares during the last quarter. Perritt Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in Carriage Services by 5,001.0% in the 2nd quarter. Perritt Capital Management Inc now owns 5,101 shares of the company’s stock valued at $137,000 after buying an additional 5,001 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of Carriage Services by 1,074.3% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 4,697 shares of the company’s stock worth $154,000 after acquiring an additional 4,297 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Carriage Services during the 3rd quarter worth $204,000. 66.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Carriage Services Stock Up 0.3 %

CSV stock opened at $39.26 on Tuesday. Carriage Services, Inc. has a one year low of $22.84 and a one year high of $42.13. The firm has a market cap of $597.65 million, a PE ratio of 17.61, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.93. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $39.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $33.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.72.

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

Carriage Services Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 4th were paid a dividend of $0.1125 per share. This represents a $0.45 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 4th. Carriage Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Carriage Services

In other Carriage Services news, VP Paul Donald Elliott sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.78, for a total transaction of $188,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 34,166 shares in the company, valued at $1,290,791.48. The trade was a 12.77 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 12.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.