645 Shares in Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI) Acquired by Vision Financial Markets LLC

Vision Financial Markets LLC bought a new position in shares of Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 645 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Service Co. International by 263.1% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 15,912 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,206,000 after purchasing an additional 11,530 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Service Co. International by 7,802.1% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 7,586 shares of the company’s stock valued at $599,000 after purchasing an additional 7,490 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Service Co. International by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,211,902 shares of the company’s stock valued at $253,567,000 after purchasing an additional 156,086 shares during the last quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd increased its position in shares of Service Co. International by 23.9% in the 3rd quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 1,093,723 shares of the company’s stock valued at $85,721,000 after purchasing an additional 210,802 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Service Co. International by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 185,277 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,348,000 after purchasing an additional 3,375 shares during the last quarter. 85.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SCI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Service Co. International from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Service Co. International from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $88.50.

Service Co. International Stock Performance

NYSE SCI opened at $79.17 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.83, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $78.47 and its 200 day moving average price is $79.98. The company has a market capitalization of $11.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.90. Service Co. International has a 12 month low of $67.19 and a 12 month high of $89.37.

Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $1.06 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06. Service Co. International had a net margin of 12.39% and a return on equity of 32.18%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Service Co. International will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Service Co. International Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.62%. This is a boost from Service Co. International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Service Co. International’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.06%.

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.