Comparing SEI Investments (NASDAQ:SEIC) & T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW)

SEI Investments (NASDAQ:SEIC) and T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends and institutional ownership.

Dividends

SEI Investments pays an annual dividend of $1.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. T. Rowe Price Group pays an annual dividend of $5.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.0%. SEI Investments pays out 17.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. T. Rowe Price Group pays out 55.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. SEI Investments has raised its dividend for 34 consecutive years and T. Rowe Price Group has raised its dividend for 39 consecutive years. T. Rowe Price Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Volatility and Risk

SEI Investments has a beta of 1, meaning that its share price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.Comparatively, T. Rowe Price Group has a beta of 1.51, meaning that its share price is 51% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares SEI Investments and T. Rowe Price Group”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
SEI Investments	$2.37 billion	4.55	$715.30 million	$5.86	15.30
T. Rowe Price Group	$7.31 billion	3.06	$2.09 billion	$9.33	11.20

T. Rowe Price Group has higher revenue and earnings than SEI Investments. T. Rowe Price Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than SEI Investments, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

70.6% of SEI Investments shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 73.4% of T. Rowe Price Group shares are held by institutional investors. 4.8% of SEI Investments shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.6% of T. Rowe Price Group shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares SEI Investments and T. Rowe Price Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
SEI Investments	31.17%	30.70%	24.76%
T. Rowe Price Group	28.28%	20.60%	15.55%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for SEI Investments and T. Rowe Price Group, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
SEI Investments	0	1	7	0	2.88
T. Rowe Price Group	4	11	0	0	1.73

SEI Investments currently has a consensus target price of $103.00, indicating a potential upside of 14.85%. T. Rowe Price Group has a consensus target price of $99.54, indicating a potential downside of 4.75%. Given SEI Investments’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe SEI Investments is more favorable than T. Rowe Price Group.

Summary

SEI Investments beats T. Rowe Price Group on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

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. It provides its services to private banks, independent financial advisers, institutional investors, investment managers, investment advisors, wealth management organizations, corporations, retirement scheme sponsors, not-for-profit organizations, hedge fund managers, registered investment advisers, independent broker-dealers, financial planners, life insurance agents, defined-benefit schemes, defined-contribution schemes, endowments, foundations, and board-designated fund, through its subsidiaries. Through its subsidiaries, the firm manages separate client-focused portfolios. It also launches and manages equity, fixed income, and balanced mutual funds, through its subsidiaries. Through its subsidiaries, the firm invests in public equity and fixed income markets. It employs fundamental and quantitative analysis with a focus on top-down and bottom-up analysis to make its investments, through its subsidiaries. SEI Investments Company was founded in 1968 and is based in Oaks, Pennsylvania.

About T. Rowe Price Group

T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. is a publicly owned investment manager. The firm provides its services to individuals, institutional investors, retirement plans, financial intermediaries, and institutions. It launches and manages equity and fixed income mutual funds. The firm invests in the public equity and fixed income markets across the globe. It employs fundamental and quantitative analysis with a bottom-up approach. The firm utilizes in-house and external research to make its investments. It employs socially responsible investing with a focus on environmental, social, and governance issues. It makes investment in late-stage venture capital transactions and usually invests between $3 million and $5 million. The firm was previously known as T. Rowe Group, Inc. and T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. was founded in 1937 and is based in Baltimore, Maryland, with additional offices in Colorado Springs, Colorado; Owings Mills, Maryland; San Francisco, California; New York, New York; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Tampa, Florida; Toronto, Ontario; Hellerup, Denmark; Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Luxembourg; Zurich, Switzerland; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; London, United Kingdom; Sydney, New South Wales; Hong Kong; Tokyo, Japan; Singapore; Frankfurt, Shanghai, China; Germany, Madrid, Spain, Milan, Italy, Stockholm, Sweden, Melbourne, Australia, Amsterdam, Netherlands and Washington, DC.