Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI) Raised to Hold at StockNews.com

Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI) was upgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Tuesday.

Separately, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Service Co. International from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. 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 has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $88.50.

Service Co. International Trading Down 0.3 %

Service Co. International stock traded down $0.23 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $79.02. 922,288 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 953,823. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.83. Service Co. International has a 12 month low of $67.19 and a 12 month high of $89.37. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $78.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $80.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.26, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.90.

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

Insider Activity at Service Co. International

In related news, CEO Thomas L. Ryan sold 50,000 shares of Service Co. International 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 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 trade represents a 4.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Tony Coelho sold 6,500 shares of Service Co. International stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.29, for a total transaction of $515,385.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 4.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Service Co. International

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Service Co. International by 263.1% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 15,912 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,206,000 after acquiring an additional 11,530 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted 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 acquiring an additional 156,086 shares during the last quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd boosted its holdings in Service Co. International by 23.9% during the 3rd quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 1,093,723 shares of the company’s stock worth $85,721,000 after acquiring an additional 210,802 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in Service Co. International by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 185,277 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,348,000 after acquiring an additional 3,375 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Service Co. International in the 4th quarter worth about $3,229,000. 85.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.