Short Interest in Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI) Decreases By 18.1%

Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI) was the target of a large drop in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,330,000 shares, a drop of 18.1% from the December 15th total of 7,730,000 shares. Currently, 4.5% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 914,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.9 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on SCI shares. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Service Co. International from $84.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com upgraded Service Co. International from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Raymond James upped their target price on Service Co. International from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on 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 investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $88.50.

Service Co. International Stock Performance

NYSE:SCI opened at $76.62 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $83.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $78.81. The company has a market cap of $11.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.27, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.91, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.52. Service Co. International has a fifty-two week low of $64.10 and a fifty-two week high of $89.37.

Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.79. Service Co. International had a return on equity of 31.84% and a net margin of 12.19%. The business had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.78 EPS. Service Co. International’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were given a dividend of $0.31 per share. This is an increase from Service Co. International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Service Co. International’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.88%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Trading of Service Co. International

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Select Equity Group L.P. lifted its position in shares of Service Co. International by 53.5% during the 2nd quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 7,239,783 shares of the company’s stock worth $514,966,000 after buying an additional 2,524,795 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Service Co. International by 300.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,055,823 shares of the company’s stock worth $320,126,000 after purchasing an additional 3,043,354 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in 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 worth $253,567,000 after purchasing an additional 156,086 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB increased its holdings in Service Co. International by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,900,020 shares of the company’s stock worth $228,899,000 after purchasing an additional 55,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Service Co. International by 7.5% in 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 in the last quarter. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.