Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI) Hits New 12-Month High – What’s Next?

Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI)’s share price hit a new 52-week high on Monday . The stock traded as high as $88.57 and last traded at $88.34, with a volume of 92560 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $87.24.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on SCI shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Service Co. International from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Service Co. International from $84.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Raymond James increased their price target on Service Co. International from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Service Co. International currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.25.

Service Co. International Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.91. The company has a market cap of $12.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.67, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.83. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $80.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.08.

Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting 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 firm had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.78 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Service Co. International will post 3.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Service Co. International Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.31 dividend. This is an increase from Service Co. International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.39%. Service Co. International’s payout ratio is 34.88%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Thomas L. Ryan sold 50,000 shares of the business’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 transaction of $4,305,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Elisabeth G. Nash sold 56,100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.13, for a total transaction of $4,831,893.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 109,260 shares in the company, valued at $9,410,563.80. This trade represents a 33.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 108,655 shares of company stock worth $9,356,203 in the last quarter. 4.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Service Co. International

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Service Co. International by 4,977.3% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 155,567 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,279,000 after acquiring an additional 152,503 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its position in Service Co. International by 33.2% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 6,388 shares of the company’s stock worth $557,000 after purchasing an additional 1,594 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Service Co. International during the third quarter worth about $228,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position 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 period. Finally, M&T Bank Corp increased its stake in Service Co. International by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 11,248 shares of the company’s stock valued at $888,000 after buying an additional 123 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

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.