Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI) Short Interest Down 18.1% in December

Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,330,000 shares, a decrease of 18.1% from the December 15th total of 7,730,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 914,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.9 days. Approximately 4.5% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Tony Coelho sold 2,555 shares of Service Co. International stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.64, for a total value of $218,810.20. Following the transaction, the director now owns 53,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,566,667.36. This trade represents a 4.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Thomas L. Ryan sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.11, for a total transaction of $4,305,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 982,333 shares in the company, valued at $84,588,694.63. The trade was a 4.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 108,655 shares of company stock worth $9,356,203. Corporate insiders own 4.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Service Co. International

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Choreo LLC bought a new position in shares of Service Co. International in the second quarter valued at $210,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of Service Co. International by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 33,181 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,360,000 after acquiring an additional 1,368 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its position in shares of Service Co. International by 38.1% in the 2nd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,760 shares of the company’s stock valued at $125,000 after acquiring an additional 486 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Service Co. International by 7.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,942,559 shares of the company’s stock worth $138,183,000 after purchasing an additional 135,017 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Seven Eight Capital LP raised its holdings in shares of Service Co. International by 237.0% in the 2nd quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP now owns 24,287 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,728,000 after purchasing an additional 17,081 shares during the period. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Service Co. International Trading Up 0.3 %

SCI stock traded up $0.23 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $76.92. 670,726 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 787,966. The company has a market cap of $11.13 billion, a PE ratio of 22.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.91, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.52. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $83.12 and its 200-day moving average price is $78.92. Service Co. International has a one year low of $64.10 and a one year high of $89.37.

Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.79. The business had revenue of $1.01 billion for 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 revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.78 EPS. Research analysts predict that Service Co. International will post 3.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Service Co. International Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were given a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.61%. This is an increase from Service Co. International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. Service Co. International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.88%.

About Service Co. International

Service Corporation International provides deathcare products and services in the United States and Canada. Its funeral service and cemetery operations comprise funeral service locations, cemeteries, funeral service/cemetery combination locations, crematoria, and other businesses. The company also provides professional services related to funerals and cremations, including the use of funeral home facilities and motor vehicles; arranging and directing services; and removal, preparation, embalming, cremation, memorialization, and travel protection, as well as catering services.