Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Trims Stock Position in Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. trimmed its holdings in Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI) by 6.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 5,127 shares of the company’s stock after selling 379 shares during the quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Service Co. International were worth $409,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SCI. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Service Co. International during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC acquired a new position in Service Co. International in the fourth quarter valued at about $52,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Service Co. International in the fourth quarter valued at about $60,000. Quest Partners LLC boosted its stake in Service Co. International by 110,300.0% during the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 1,104 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,000 after buying an additional 1,103 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Service Co. International by 20.1% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,397 shares of the company’s stock valued at $110,000 after acquiring an additional 234 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on SCI shares. 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 report on Friday, December 13th. StockNews.com upgraded Service Co. International from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $88.50.

Insider Activity

In other Service Co. International news, Director Tony Coelho sold 6,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.29, for a total value of $515,385.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 46,824 shares in the company, valued at $3,712,674.96. This trade represents a 12.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Thomas L. Ryan sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.56, for a total value of $4,228,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 982,333 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $83,066,078.48. This represents a 4.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Service Co. International Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of SCI stock opened at $78.12 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.90. Service Co. International has a fifty-two week low of $67.19 and a fifty-two week high of $89.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.52. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $78.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $80.19.

Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $1.06 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%. Equities research analysts predict that Service Co. International will post 3.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Service Co. International Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Service Co. International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Service Co. International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.06%.

About Service Co. International

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.