Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Acquires 641,552 Shares of Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI)

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in shares of Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI) by 237.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 911,294 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 641,552 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership’s holdings in Service Co. International were worth $72,739,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Service Co. International in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC bought a new stake in Service Co. International in the 4th quarter valued at $52,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Service Co. International in the 4th quarter worth $60,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased 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 worth $110,000 after purchasing an additional 234 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. raised its stake in shares of Service Co. International by 13.9% in the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 1,936 shares of the company’s stock valued at $155,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the period. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 directly 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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 shares were sold at an average price of $84.56, for a total value of $4,228,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 982,333 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $83,066,078.48. This represents a 4.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on SCI. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Service Co. International from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. StockNews.com downgraded Service Co. International from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $88.50.

Service Co. International Price Performance

NYSE:SCI opened at $80.25 on Tuesday. Service Co. International has a 52-week low of $67.19 and a 52-week high of $89.37. The company has a market cap of $11.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.90. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $78.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $80.22.

Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI) last announced 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 return on equity of 32.18% and a net margin of 12.39%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Service Co. International will post 3.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Service Co. International Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.60%. This is a boost from Service Co. International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Service Co. International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.06%.

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.