SEI Investments (NASDAQ:SEIC) Short Interest Up 29.6% in February

SEI Investments (NASDAQ:SEIC) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 2,060,000 shares, an increase of 29.6% from the February 13th total of 1,590,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 668,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.1 days. Currently, 2.2% of the shares of the company are short sold.

SEI Investments Price Performance

SEI Investments stock opened at $74.95 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $80.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $77.93. The company has a market cap of $9.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.94. SEI Investments has a fifty-two week low of $62.38 and a fifty-two week high of $87.25.

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

SEI Investments declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, March 18th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the asset manager to repurchase up to 5.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at SEI Investments

In other SEI Investments news, Chairman Alfred P. West, Jr. sold 1,372 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.28, for a total transaction of $104,656.16. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 7,078,708 shares in the company, valued at approximately $539,963,846.24. The trade was a 0.02 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Mark Andrew Warner sold 5,000 shares of the business’s 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. 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 79,214 shares of company stock worth $6,293,903 in the last ninety days. 14.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SEIC. FMR LLC grew its position in SEI Investments by 249.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 885,113 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $61,241,000 after purchasing an additional 632,024 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in SEI Investments in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $48,009,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in SEI Investments in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,548,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in SEI Investments in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,702,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in SEI Investments by 13.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,520,430 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $174,092,000 after acquiring an additional 300,704 shares during the last quarter. 70.59% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SEIC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Raymond James upgraded shares of SEI Investments from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $99.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of SEI Investments from $77.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of SEI Investments from $85.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of SEI Investments from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $90.00 target price (up from $86.00) on shares of SEI Investments in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.00.

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.