Diversify Advisory Services LLC Sells 1,384 Shares of Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI)

Diversify Advisory Services LLC decreased its position in Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI) by 15.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,588 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,384 shares during the quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Service Co. International were worth $581,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. HB Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Service Co. International by 16.9% during the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,888 shares of the company’s stock valued at $470,000 after purchasing an additional 853 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Service Co. International by 32.8% during the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 25,863 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,064,000 after buying an additional 6,391 shares in the last quarter. JGP Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Service Co. International by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. JGP Wealth Management LLC now owns 117,545 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,382,000 after acquiring an additional 1,413 shares during the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management grew its position in Service Co. International by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 9,277 shares of the company’s stock worth $740,000 after acquiring an additional 506 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Argent Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Service Co. International by 41.9% during the fourth quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC now owns 47,113 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,761,000 after acquiring an additional 13,916 shares during the last quarter. 85.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Tony Coelho sold 2,555 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.64, for a total transaction of $218,810.20. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 53,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,566,667.36. This represents a 4.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Elisabeth G. Nash sold 56,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.13, for a total value of $4,831,893.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 109,260 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,410,563.80. The trade was a 33.93 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 108,655 shares of company stock worth $9,356,203. 4.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Service Co. International from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Service Co. International from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Service Co. International from $84.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Service Co. International from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $88.50.

Service Co. International Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of SCI opened at $77.73 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $82.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $79.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.87. Service Co. International has a 12-month low of $64.10 and a 12-month high of $89.37.

Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.79. The company had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. Service Co. International had a net margin of 12.19% and a return on equity of 31.84%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.78 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Service Co. International will post 3.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Service Co. International Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This is a positive change from Service Co. International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.60%. Service Co. International’s payout ratio is 34.88%.

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.