StockNews.com Upgrades Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI) to “Hold”

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 lifted their price objective on shares of Service Co. International from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $88.50.

Service Co. International Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE SCI opened at $78.72 on Tuesday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $11.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.90. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $78.60 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $80.16. Service Co. International has a one year low of $67.19 and a one year high of $89.37.

Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $1.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06. Service Co. International had a net margin of 12.39% and a return on equity of 32.18%. Equities analysts forecast that Service Co. International will post 3.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Service Co. International Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Service Co. International

In related news, CEO Thomas L. Ryan sold 50,000 shares of Service Co. International stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.56, for a total value of $4,228,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 982,333 shares in the company, valued at $83,066,078.48. The trade was a 4.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Tony Coelho sold 6,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.29, for a total transaction of $515,385.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 46,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,712,674.96. The trade was a 12.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 4.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Service Co. International

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SCI. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Service Co. International in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Quarry LP increased its holdings in shares of Service Co. International by 359.8% in the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 469 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 367 shares during the period. Mizuho Bank Ltd. purchased a new position in Service Co. International in the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Service Co. International in the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Vision Financial Markets LLC purchased a new position in Service Co. International in the 4th quarter valued at $52,000. 85.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Service Co. International

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.