50,979 Shares in Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI) Purchased by Aurdan Capital Management LLC

Aurdan Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 50,979 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,069,000. Service Co. International makes up approximately 1.6% of Aurdan Capital Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in SCI. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Service Co. International by 70.2% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,901,982 shares of the company's stock worth $550,916,000 after buying an additional 2,846,159 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Service Co. International during the fourth quarter worth $96,498,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in Service Co. International by 237.8% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 911,294 shares of the company's stock worth $72,739,000 after purchasing an additional 641,552 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Service Co. International by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,952,636 shares of the company's stock worth $714,600,000 after purchasing an additional 492,822 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in Service Co. International by 19,170.2% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 333,157 shares of the company's stock worth $26,593,000 after purchasing an additional 334,904 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.53% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SCI has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Service Co. International from $90.00 to $88.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Service Co. International from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Service Co. International currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $89.25.

Service Co. International Stock Performance

SCI stock traded down $0.66 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $77.00. The company had a trading volume of 952,001 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,066,480. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.96. Service Co. International has a one year low of $68.82 and a one year high of $89.37. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $77.60 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $79.89.

Service Co. International (NYSE:SCI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.06 billion. Service Co. International had a return on equity of 32.18% and a net margin of 12.39%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.89 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Service Co. International will post 3.84 EPS for the current year.

Service Co. International Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Service Co. International's payout ratio is 35.16%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Thomas L. Ryan sold 50,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.56, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 4.84% 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, Director Tony Coelho sold 6,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.29, for a total value of $515,385.00. Following the transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 61,900 shares of company stock valued at $5,153,461. Company insiders own 4.40% of the company's stock.

Service Co. International 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.