Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in the month of 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. Approximately 4.5% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 914,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.9 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Service Co. International

In other Service Co. International news, Director Tony Coelho sold 2,555 shares of Service Co. International stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.64, for a total value of $218,810.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 53,324 shares in the company, valued at $4,566,667.36. The trade was a 4.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Thomas L. Ryan sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.11, for a total transaction of $4,305,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 982,333 shares in the company, valued at approximately $84,588,694.63. The trade was a 4.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 108,655 shares of company stock valued at $9,356,203 in the last three months. 4.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Service Co. International

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on SCI. StockNews.com raised Service Co. International from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Raymond James increased their target price on Service Co. International from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Service Co. International from $84.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Service Co. International from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $88.50.

Service Co. International Price Performance

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

Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79. Service Co. International had a net margin of 12.19% and a return on equity of 31.84%. The company had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.78 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Service Co. International will post 3.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Service Co. International Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. This is a boost from Service Co. International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Service Co. International’s payout ratio is 34.88%.

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.