Principal Financial Group Inc. Takes $232,000 Position in Carriage Services, Inc. (NYSE:CSV)

Principal Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Carriage Services, Inc. (NYSE:CSV) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 7,076 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $232,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Carriage Services by 201.5% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 229,718 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,166,000 after buying an additional 153,538 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new stake in Carriage Services during the third quarter worth $4,310,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in Carriage Services by 8.2% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 616,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,547,000 after acquiring an additional 46,700 shares during the period. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C boosted its position in Carriage Services by 198.0% in the second quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C now owns 53,584 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,438,000 after purchasing an additional 35,605 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AXA S.A. bought a new position in Carriage Services in the 2nd quarter valued at $932,000. 66.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Carriage Services Stock Performance

Shares of CSV opened at $40.65 on Tuesday. Carriage Services, Inc. has a 1 year low of $22.05 and a 1 year high of $40.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $34.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $31.08. The firm has a market cap of $618.69 million, a PE ratio of 18.23, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.91.

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

Carriage Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, November 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.1125 per share. This represents a $0.45 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.11%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 4th. Carriage Services’s payout ratio is currently 20.18%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CSV has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barrington Research lifted their target price on Carriage Services from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective (up previously from $32.00) on shares of Carriage Services in a research report on Friday, August 2nd.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Paul Donald Elliott sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.78, for a total transaction of $188,900.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 34,166 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,290,791.48. The trade was a 12.77 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 11.30% 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.