SEI Investments (NASDAQ:SEIC) Declares Dividend Increase – $0.49 Per Share

SEI Investments (NASDAQ:SEIC) announced a semi-annual dividend on Friday, December 13th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a dividend of 0.49 per share by the asset manager on Wednesday, January 8th. This represents a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. This is a boost from SEI Investments’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.46.

SEI Investments has increased its dividend payment by an average of 7.3% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 33 consecutive years. SEI Investments has a payout ratio of 18.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect SEI Investments to earn $4.88 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.92 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 18.9%.

SEI Investments Stock Performance

Shares of SEIC stock opened at $85.83 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.73, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.98. SEI Investments has a 52 week low of $61.28 and a 52 week high of $87.25. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $78.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $70.63.

SEI Investments (NASDAQ:SEIC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.12. The business 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.87 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that SEI Investments will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other SEI Investments news, Chairman Alfred P. West, Jr. sold 5,984 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.23, for a total value of $504,032.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 7,371,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $620,903,298.06. This represents a 0.08 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Michael Peterson sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 6,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $484,835. This represents a 79.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 93,058 shares of company stock valued at $7,245,697. 14.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of SEI Investments from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of SEI Investments from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on SEI Investments from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, SEI Investments presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $77.50.

SEI Investments announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Tuesday, October 22nd that permits the company to buyback $400.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the asset manager to buy up to 4.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.