SEI Investments (NASDAQ:SEIC) Short Interest Update

SEI Investments (NASDAQ:SEIC) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,640,000 shares, an increase of 22.4% from the November 30th total of 1,340,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 684,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.4 days. Approximately 1.7% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SEIC. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of SEI Investments from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of SEI Investments from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on SEI Investments from $76.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on SEI Investments from $77.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $83.25.

Insider Activity at SEI Investments

In related news, EVP Michael Peterson sold 25,000 shares of SEI Investments stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.59, for a total transaction of $1,864,750.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,500 shares in the company, valued at $484,835. The trade was a 79.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Alfred P. West, Jr. sold 52,042 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.23, for a total transaction of $4,435,539.66. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 7,232,922 shares in the company, valued at approximately $616,461,942.06. This trade represents a 0.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 239,258 shares of company stock worth $19,753,402 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 14.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp boosted its position in shares of SEI Investments by 9.6% during the second quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 95,639 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,187,000 after acquiring an additional 8,387 shares during the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its holdings in shares of SEI Investments by 60.7% during the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 21,419 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,386,000 after purchasing an additional 8,094 shares during the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. grew its position in shares of SEI Investments by 12.1% during the second quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 76,133 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,925,000 after purchasing an additional 8,243 shares in the last quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC bought a new stake in shares of SEI Investments in the third quarter worth about $1,701,000. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its position in shares of SEI Investments by 56.7% in the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 17,591 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,217,000 after buying an additional 6,364 shares in the last quarter. 70.59% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

SEI Investments Stock Performance

Shares of SEIC stock traded down $0.16 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $82.48. 622,763 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 604,070. SEI Investments has a 12 month low of $61.58 and a 12 month high of $87.25. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $80.82 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $72.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.63 billion, a PE ratio of 19.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.98.

SEI Investments (NASDAQ:SEIC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $537.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $534.08 million. SEI Investments had a return on equity of 24.29% and a net margin of 26.60%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.87 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that SEI Investments will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SEI Investments declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, October 22nd that allows the company to repurchase $400.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the asset manager to reacquire up to 4.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

SEI Investments Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a $0.49 dividend. This is a positive change from SEI Investments’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.46. This represents a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. SEI Investments’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.67%.

About SEI Investments

SEI Investments Company is a publicly owned asset management holding company. Through its subsidiaries, the firm provides wealth management, retirement and investment solutions, asset management, asset administration, investment processing outsourcing solutions, financial services, and investment advisory services to its clients.