Carriage Services, Inc. (NYSE:CSV) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.11

Carriage Services, Inc. (NYSE:CSV) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 18th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Monday, May 6th will be paid a dividend of 0.1125 per share on Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.45 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.74%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 3rd.

Carriage Services has raised its dividend by an average of 10.1% per year over the last three years. Carriage Services has a dividend payout ratio of 17.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Carriage Services to earn $2.52 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 17.9%.

Carriage Services Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CSV opened at $25.81 on Thursday. Carriage Services has a fifty-two week low of $18.06 and a fifty-two week high of $35.59. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $25.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $24.32. The company has a market capitalization of $390.76 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.00, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.82.

Carriage Services (NYSE:CSV) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.28. Carriage Services had a net margin of 8.73% and a return on equity of 21.39%. The business had revenue of $98.83 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.27 million. Analysts expect that Carriage Services will post 2.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barrington Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $38.00 price target on shares of Carriage Services in a report on Friday, April 19th. StockNews.com cut shares of Carriage Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Carlos R. Quezada sold 1,666 shares of the firm’s 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 $42,616.28. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 57,062 shares in the company, valued at $1,459,645.96. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Steven D. Metzger sold 1,388 shares of Carriage Services stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.58, for a total transaction of $35,505.04. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 42,975 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,099,300.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Carlos R. Quezada sold 1,666 shares of Carriage Services stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 57,062 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,459,645.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 14,372 shares of company stock worth $369,521. 12.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Carriage Services

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.