Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Trims Position in Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS decreased its position in shares of Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 31,942 shares of the company’s stock after selling 156 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in Service Co. International were worth $2,550,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Service Co. International in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC bought a new stake in Service Co. International during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Service Co. International in the 4th quarter worth approximately $60,000. Quest Partners LLC boosted its stake in Service Co. International by 110,300.0% in the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 1,104 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,000 after purchasing an additional 1,103 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Service Co. International by 20.1% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,397 shares of the company’s stock valued at $110,000 after buying an additional 234 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Service Co. International Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of SCI opened at $79.26 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $78.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $80.20. Service Co. International has a 1 year low of $67.19 and a 1 year high of $89.37. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $11.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.90.

Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $1.06 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.06. Service Co. International had a net margin of 12.39% and a return on equity of 32.18%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Service Co. International will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Service Co. International Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.62%. This is a positive change from Service Co. International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Service Co. International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Service Co. International

In other news, Director Tony Coelho sold 6,500 shares of the business’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 transaction, 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 can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Thomas L. Ryan sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 982,333 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $83,066,078.48. This represents 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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Service Co. International from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Service Co. International from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $88.50.

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.