SEI Investments (NASDAQ:SEIC) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

SEI Investments (NASDAQ:SEIC) saw a significant decrease in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 1,340,000 shares, a decrease of 16.8% from the November 15th total of 1,610,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 658,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.0 days. Approximately 1.4% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

SEI Investments Price Performance

Shares of SEIC opened at $85.83 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $11.06 billion, a PE ratio of 20.73, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.98. SEI Investments has a 1 year low of $61.28 and a 1 year high of $87.25. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $78.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $70.66.

SEI Investments (NASDAQ:SEIC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $537.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 period in the previous year, the business posted $0.87 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that SEI Investments will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SEI Investments announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, October 22nd that authorizes the company to buyback $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the asset manager to reacquire up to 4.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

SEI Investments Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a $0.49 dividend. This represents a yield of 1.1%. This is a positive change from SEI Investments’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.46. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. SEI Investments’s payout ratio is currently 22.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Ryan Hicke sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.90, for a total value of $749,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 147,609 shares in the company, valued at $11,055,914.10. This represents a 6.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Michael Peterson sold 25,000 shares of the business’s 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 in the company, valued at approximately $484,835. This trade represents a 79.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 93,058 shares of company stock worth $7,245,697 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 14.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SEI Investments

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in SEI Investments during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,434,000. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp increased 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 valued at $6,187,000 after buying an additional 8,387 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its holdings in shares of SEI Investments by 60.7% in the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 21,419 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,386,000 after buying an additional 8,094 shares in the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. boosted its position in shares of SEI Investments by 12.1% in 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 acquiring an additional 8,243 shares during the period. Finally, Portfolio Design Labs LLC purchased a new position in SEI Investments during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,701,000. 70.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

SEI Investments Company Profile

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.