Alliancebernstein L.P. cut its holdings in shares of Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI - Free Report) by 4.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,941,630 shares of the company's stock after selling 141,076 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned 2.03% of Service Co. International worth $234,801,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Service Co. International during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC purchased a new position in shares of Service Co. International during the fourth quarter valued at about $52,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Service Co. International during the fourth quarter valued at about $60,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Service Co. International by 20.1% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,397 shares of the company's stock worth $110,000 after buying an additional 234 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in Service Co. International by 13.9% in the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 1,936 shares of the company's stock worth $155,000 after buying an additional 236 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.53% of the company's stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
SCI has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com raised Service Co. International from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday. 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.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $88.50.
Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on SCI
Service Co. International Stock Down 5.3 %
Shares of SCI traded down $4.32 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $77.06. The company had a trading volume of 2,006,372 shares, compared to its average volume of 999,819. Service Co. International has a 52 week low of $67.19 and a 52 week high of $89.37. 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 $11.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.81. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $79.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $80.22.
Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.06. Service Co. International had a return on equity of 32.18% and a net margin of 12.39%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Service Co. International will post 3.84 EPS for the current year.
Service Co. International Increases Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.66%. This is an increase from Service Co. International's previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Service Co. International's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.06%.
Insider Transactions at Service Co. International
In other Service Co. International news, Director Tony Coelho sold 6,500 shares of Service Co. International stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.29, for a total value of $515,385.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 46,824 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,712,674.96. The trade was a 12.19 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Thomas L. Ryan sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 5.10% of the company's stock.
Service Co. International Company Profile
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Free Report)
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.
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