Ritholtz Wealth Management Buys 506 Shares of Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI)

Ritholtz Wealth Management raised its stake in Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI) by 5.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,277 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 506 shares during the quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in Service Co. International were worth $740,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Argent Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Service Co. International by 41.9% during the fourth quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC now owns 47,113 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,761,000 after purchasing an additional 13,916 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in shares of Service Co. International during the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,229,000. Oak Thistle LLC bought a new position in shares of Service Co. International during the fourth quarter worth approximately $307,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Service Co. International by 20.8% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,110 shares of the company’s stock worth $168,000 after purchasing an additional 364 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Service Co. International by 263.1% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 15,912 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,206,000 after purchasing an additional 11,530 shares during the period. 85.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SCI has been the topic of several recent research reports. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Service Co. International from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. 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. StockNews.com raised shares of Service Co. International from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Service Co. International from $84.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Service Co. International currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $88.50.

Service Co. International Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SCI opened at $76.92 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $82.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $79.03. 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 has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.91, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.48. Service Co. International has a 1 year low of $64.10 and a 1 year high of $89.37.

Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI) last issued its 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 firm had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.78 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Service Co. International will post 3.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Service Co. International Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.61%. This is a positive change from Service Co. International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. Service Co. International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.88%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Service Co. International

In other news, Director Tony Coelho sold 2,555 shares of Service Co. International stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.64, for a total transaction of $218,810.20. Following the transaction, the director now owns 53,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,566,667.36. The trade was a 4.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Elisabeth G. Nash sold 56,100 shares of Service Co. International stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.13, for a total transaction of $4,831,893.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 109,260 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,410,563.80. This trade represents a 33.93 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 108,655 shares of company stock worth $9,356,203 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 4.60% of the company’s stock.

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.