Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Tuesday.

Separately, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $88.50.

Service Co. International Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SCI opened at $78.72 on Tuesday. Service Co. International has a 1 year low of $67.19 and a 1 year high of $89.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.83, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The company’s 50-day moving average is $78.60 and its 200 day moving average is $80.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.90.

Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $1.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.06. Service Co. International had a net margin of 12.39% and a return on equity of 32.18%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Service Co. International will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Service Co. International Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This is a boost from Service Co. International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Service Co. International’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Service Co. International

In related news, CEO Thomas L. Ryan sold 50,000 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 982,333 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $83,066,078.48. This trade represents a 4.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Tony Coelho sold 6,500 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the director now directly owns 46,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,712,674.96. The trade was a 12.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 4.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Service Co. International

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SCI. FMR LLC lifted its position in Service Co. International by 300.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,055,823 shares of the company’s stock valued at $320,126,000 after purchasing an additional 3,043,354 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Service Co. International during the fourth quarter valued at $96,498,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in shares of Service Co. International by 237.8% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 911,294 shares of the company’s stock worth $72,739,000 after acquiring an additional 641,552 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Service Co. International by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,952,636 shares of the company’s stock worth $714,600,000 after acquiring an additional 492,822 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Service Co. International by 19,170.2% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 333,157 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,593,000 after acquiring an additional 334,904 shares during the last quarter. 85.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Service Co. International Company 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.