Great Lakes Advisors LLC Acquires 489 Shares of Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI)

Great Lakes Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 26,630 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 489 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in Service Co. International were worth $2,126,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Service Co. International by 300.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,055,823 shares of the company’s stock worth $320,126,000 after purchasing an additional 3,043,354 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted 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 worth $253,567,000 after purchasing an additional 156,086 shares during the period. Swedbank AB raised its stake in Service Co. International by 1.7% during the 4th 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 during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Service Co. International by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,459,377 shares of the company’s stock worth $116,487,000 after acquiring an additional 118,832 shares during the period. Finally, Premier Fund Managers Ltd raised its stake in Service Co. International by 23.9% during the 3rd quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 1,093,723 shares of the company’s stock worth $85,721,000 after acquiring an additional 210,802 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Service Co. International Trading Down 0.1 %

SCI stock opened at $78.55 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $78.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $80.15. 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. The firm has a market cap of $11.33 billion, a PE ratio of 22.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.90.

Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06. Service Co. International had a net margin of 12.39% and a return on equity of 32.18%. Sell-side analysts anticipate 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.63%. This is a positive change from Service Co. International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Service Co. International’s payout ratio is presently 36.06%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Tony Coelho sold 6,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.29, for a total transaction of $515,385.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 46,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,712,674.96. The trade was a 12.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Thomas L. Ryan sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.56, for a total transaction of $4,228,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 982,333 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $83,066,078.48. This represents a 4.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 5.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.