Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD Purchases Shares of 2,390 Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI)

Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD purchased a new position in Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 2,390 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $191,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of SCI. FMR LLC increased its stake in Service Co. International by 300.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,055,823 shares of the company’s stock valued at $320,126,000 after buying an additional 3,043,354 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Service Co. International by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,211,902 shares of the company’s stock valued at $253,567,000 after purchasing an additional 156,086 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB boosted its stake in Service Co. International by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,950,020 shares of the company’s stock worth $235,471,000 after acquiring an additional 50,000 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Service Co. International by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,459,377 shares of the company’s stock valued at $116,487,000 after buying an additional 118,832 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Premier Fund Managers Ltd lifted its position in shares of Service Co. International by 23.9% during the third quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 1,093,723 shares of the company’s stock valued at $85,721,000 after purchasing an additional 210,802 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Service Co. International Price Performance

Shares of SCI stock opened at $80.94 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $78.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $80.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.80, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.90. Service Co. International has a fifty-two week low of $67.19 and a fifty-two week high of $89.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.52.

Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $1.06 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.06. Service Co. International had a return on equity of 32.18% and a net margin of 12.39%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Service Co. International will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Service Co. International Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.58%. This is a boost from Service Co. International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Service Co. International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Service Co. International

In other news, Director Tony Coelho sold 6,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.29, for a total transaction of $515,385.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 46,824 shares in the company, valued at $3,712,674.96. This trade represents a 12.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 5.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on SCI shares. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Service Co. International from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Service Co. International from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $88.50.

Service Co. International Profile

Service Corp. International engages in the provision of funeral goods and services. It operates through the Funeral and Cemetery segments. The Funeral segment offers services related to cremations, including the use of home facilities and motor vehicles, arranging and directing services, removal, preparation, embalming, memorialization, and catering.