Carriage Services, Inc. (NYSE:CSV) Shares Purchased by Values First Advisors Inc.

Values First Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Carriage Services, Inc. (NYSE:CSV) by 7.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,096 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,185 shares during the period. Values First Advisors Inc. owned approximately 0.11% of Carriage Services worth $428,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CSV. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its stake in Carriage Services by 527.3% during the 1st quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 828 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 696 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in Carriage Services by 98.5% during 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. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. increased its stake in Carriage Services by 107.8% during the 4th quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 2,342 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 1,215 shares during the period. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd increased its stake in Carriage Services by 35.3% during the 2nd quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd now owns 1,655 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 432 shares during the period. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its stake in Carriage Services by 89.8% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 3,907 shares of the company’s stock valued at $110,000 after buying an additional 1,848 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.46% of the company’s stock.

Carriage Services Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CSV traded up $0.03 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $27.04. 77,171 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 94,957. Carriage Services, Inc. has a 52 week low of $18.06 and a 52 week high of $35.59. 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 company’s fifty day simple moving average is $25.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $24.90. The company has a market cap of $409.39 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.83.

Carriage Services (NYSE:CSV) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $98.83 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.27 million. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Carriage Services, Inc. will post 2.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Carriage Services Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 5th were issued a $0.1125 dividend. This represents a $0.45 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 2nd. Carriage Services’s payout ratio is 20.93%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CSV. StockNews.com lowered shares of Carriage Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $38.00 price objective on shares of Carriage Services in a research report on Friday, February 23rd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Carriage Services news, Director Melvin C. Payne sold 3,524 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 1,129,809 shares in the company, valued at $28,900,514.22. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Director Melvin C. Payne sold 3,524 shares of the 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 directly owns 1,129,809 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,900,514.22. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Carlos R. Quezada sold 1,666 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.58, for a total transaction of $42,616.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 57,062 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,459,645.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,372 shares of company stock worth $369,521 over the last ninety days. 12.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.