41,500 Shares in Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI) Purchased by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 41,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,841,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Select Equity Group L.P. raised its position in shares of Service Co. International by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 8,379,769 shares of the company’s stock worth $579,377,000 after purchasing an additional 905,919 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Service Co. International by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,610,877 shares of the company’s stock valued at $303,488,000 after acquiring an additional 104,551 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in Service Co. International by 134.8% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,458,834 shares of the company’s stock valued at $239,144,000 after acquiring an additional 1,985,847 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Service Co. International by 1,032.1% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,097,682 shares of the company’s stock valued at $213,060,000 after acquiring an additional 2,824,050 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings in Service Co. International by 10.9% in the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,554,715 shares of the company’s stock valued at $165,009,000 after acquiring an additional 251,230 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on SCI. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Service Co. International from $71.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Service Co. International from $72.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $75.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director W Blair Waltrip sold 6,150 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.38, for a total transaction of $457,437.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 597,948 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,475,372.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director W Blair Waltrip sold 6,150 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.38, for a total transaction of $457,437.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 597,948 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,475,372.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Tony Coelho sold 8,950 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.39, for a total transaction of $674,740.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 60,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,590,270.93. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 202,675 shares of company stock valued at $15,066,906 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 4.60% of the company’s stock.

Service Co. International Stock Performance

Service Co. International stock opened at $69.76 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $72.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $65.87. Service Co. International has a 1-year low of $52.89 and a 1-year high of $75.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.02, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The stock has a market cap of $10.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.81.

Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.02. Service Co. International had a net margin of 13.11% and a return on equity of 32.88%. The business had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.92 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Service Co. International will post 3.62 EPS for the current year.

Service Co. International Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.30 dividend. This is a boost from Service Co. International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.72%. Service Co. International’s dividend payout ratio is 32.95%.

About Service Co. International

Service Corporation International provides deathcare products and services in the United States and Canada. Its funeral service and cemetery operations comprise funeral service locations, cemeteries, funeral service/cemetery combination locations, crematoria, and other businesses. The company also provides professional services related to funerals and cremations, including the use of funeral home facilities and motor vehicles; arranging and directing services; and removal, preparation, embalming, cremation, memorialization, and travel protection, as well as catering services.