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

Carriage Services, Inc. (NYSE:CSV) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, July 17th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 5th will be given a dividend of 0.1125 per share on Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $0.45 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 5th.

Carriage Services has increased its dividend by an average of 10.1% per year over the last three years. Carriage Services has a payout ratio of 17.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Carriage Services to earn $2.56 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 17.6%.

Carriage Services Trading Down 4.0 %

Carriage Services stock opened at $31.10 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $28.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $26.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.72. Carriage Services has a 52 week low of $18.06 and a 52 week high of $35.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $471.48 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.32, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.92.

Carriage Services (NYSE:CSV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.16. Carriage Services had a return on equity of 22.52% and a net margin of 7.47%. The firm had revenue of $103.49 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $98.17 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.56 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Carriage Services will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Shane Pudenz sold 1,443 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.30, for a total transaction of $39,393.90. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 13,460 shares in the company, valued at approximately $367,458. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Shane Pudenz sold 1,443 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.30, for a total transaction of $39,393.90. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 13,460 shares in the company, valued at approximately $367,458. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Shawn R. Phillips sold 10,593 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.57, for a total value of $270,863.01. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 sold 15,318 shares of company stock valued at $406,452 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 12.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on CSV shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Carriage Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 target price (up previously from $32.00) on shares of Carriage Services in a research note on Friday. Finally, Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $38.00 price target on shares of Carriage Services in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th.

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.