Raymond James Financial Inc. Buys Shares of 515,858 SEI Investments (NASDAQ:SEIC)

Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in SEI Investments (NASDAQ:SEIC) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 515,858 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $42,548,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Martingale Asset Management L P increased its position in shares of SEI Investments by 124.7% in the 4th quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 230,671 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $19,026,000 after buying an additional 128,006 shares in the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. bought a new position in shares of SEI Investments during the 4th quarter valued at about $4,962,000. Abacus FCF Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of SEI Investments by 46.4% in the 4th quarter. Abacus FCF Advisors LLC now owns 30,499 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,516,000 after purchasing an additional 9,672 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in SEI Investments by 55.3% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 22,294 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,798,000 after purchasing an additional 7,938 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its holdings in SEI Investments by 39.3% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,233,225 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $101,716,000 after buying an additional 348,112 shares during the period. 70.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

SEI Investments Price Performance

SEIC stock opened at $73.26 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $9.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $76.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $78.78. SEI Investments has a one year low of $62.38 and a one year high of $87.25.

SEI Investments (NASDAQ:SEIC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The asset manager reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.21 by ($0.02). SEI Investments had a return on equity of 25.51% and a net margin of 27.35%. Research analysts anticipate that SEI Investments will post 4.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SEI Investments announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, March 18th that allows the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the asset manager to repurchase up to 5.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Alfred P. West, Jr. sold 72,842 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.45, for a total value of $5,787,296.90. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 7,160,080 shares in the company, valued at approximately $568,868,356. This trade represents a 1.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Mark Andrew Warner sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.39, for a total transaction of $401,950.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 1,300 shares in the company, valued at $104,507. The trade was a 79.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 79,214 shares of company stock valued at $6,293,903 over the last 90 days. 14.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SEIC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of SEI Investments from $87.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. StockNews.com downgraded SEI Investments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Raymond James upgraded SEI Investments from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $99.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of SEI Investments from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $81.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of SEI Investments from $85.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, SEI Investments has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $86.80.

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.