Oppenheimer Issues Positive Forecast for Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI) Stock Price

Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI) had its price objective hoisted by Oppenheimer from $86.00 to $92.00 in a research note published on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

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

Service Co. International Price Performance

Shares of SCI opened at $85.85 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $12.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.85. Service Co. International has a 1 year low of $64.10 and a 1 year high of $89.37. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $82.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $77.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.91.

Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.79. Service Co. International had a net margin of 12.19% and a return on equity of 31.84%. The business had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.78 EPS. Service Co. International’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Service Co. International will post 3.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Service Co. International Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.31 per share. This is an increase from Service Co. International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.44%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Service Co. International’s payout ratio is currently 34.88%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Service Co. International news, CEO Thomas L. Ryan sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.11, for a total value of $4,305,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 982,333 shares in the company, valued at approximately $84,588,694.63. This represents a 4.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Tony Coelho sold 2,555 shares of Service Co. International stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.64, for a total value of $218,810.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 53,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,566,667.36. This represents a 4.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 108,655 shares of company stock worth $9,356,203 over the last three months. Insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Service Co. International

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SCI. Select Equity Group L.P. raised its holdings in Service Co. International by 53.5% during the second quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 7,239,783 shares of the company’s stock worth $514,966,000 after buying an additional 2,524,795 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Service Co. International by 300.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,055,823 shares of the company’s stock worth $320,126,000 after acquiring an additional 3,043,354 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Service Co. International by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,211,902 shares of the company’s stock worth $253,567,000 after purchasing an additional 156,086 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB increased its holdings in Service Co. International by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,900,020 shares of the company’s stock worth $228,899,000 after purchasing an additional 55,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Service Co. International by 7.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,942,559 shares of the company’s stock valued at $138,183,000 after purchasing an additional 135,017 shares in the last quarter. 85.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Service Co. International Company Profile

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.