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 research note released on Thursday morning.

Separately, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Service Co. International from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $88.50.

Service Co. International Price Performance

Shares of SCI opened at $77.06 on Thursday. 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 has a market cap of $11.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.71, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.81. Service Co. International has a 12 month low of $67.19 and a 12 month high of $89.37. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $79.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $80.22.

Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $1.06 EPS for the quarter, hitting 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, research analysts forecast that Service Co. International will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Service Co. International Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.32 dividend. This is a positive change from Service Co. International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Service Co. International’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.06%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Tony Coelho sold 6,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.29, for a total transaction of $515,385.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 46,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,712,674.96. This trade represents a 12.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Thomas L. Ryan sold 50,000 shares of Service Co. International stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.56, for a total value of $4,228,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 982,333 shares in the company, valued at approximately $83,066,078.48. The trade was a 4.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Service Co. International

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SCI. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Service Co. International by 70.2% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,901,982 shares of the company’s stock valued at $550,916,000 after acquiring an additional 2,846,159 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Service Co. International during the fourth quarter worth $96,498,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in shares of Service Co. International by 237.8% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 911,294 shares of the company’s stock valued at $72,739,000 after purchasing an additional 641,552 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its position 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 valued at $714,600,000 after purchasing an additional 492,822 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 334,904 shares in the last quarter. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by 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.