SEI Investments (NASDAQ:SEIC) Short Interest Up 22.4% in December

SEI Investments (NASDAQ:SEIC - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,640,000 shares, a growth of 22.4% from the November 30th total of 1,340,000 shares. Approximately 1.7% of the company's shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 684,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.4 days.

Insider Transactions at SEI Investments

In other SEI Investments news, Director Carl Guarino sold 7,564 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.77, for a total transaction of $573,124.28. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 13,867 shares in the company, valued at $1,050,702.59. This represents a 35.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Alfred P. West, Jr. sold 94,158 shares of SEI Investments stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.73, for a total value of $8,072,165.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 7,284,964 shares in the company, valued at $624,539,963.72. This represents a 1.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 239,258 shares of company stock worth $19,753,402 over the last quarter. 14.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SEI Investments

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SEIC. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of SEI Investments by 101.3% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 461 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 232 shares in the last quarter. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD bought a new position in SEI Investments during the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt increased its position in shares of SEI Investments by 925.9% during the 3rd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 554 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of SEI Investments in the third quarter valued at $45,000. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in SEI Investments by 16.3% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,197 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $77,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. 70.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

SEI Investments Stock Down 0.2 %

SEIC stock traded down $0.16 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $82.48. 622,763 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 604,070. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.98. SEI Investments has a 52 week low of $61.58 and a 52 week high of $87.25. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $80.82 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $72.03.

SEI Investments (NASDAQ:SEIC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $537.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $534.08 million. SEI Investments had a net margin of 26.60% and a return on equity of 24.29%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.87 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that SEI Investments will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SEI Investments declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, October 22nd that allows the company to buyback $400.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the asset manager to repurchase up to 4.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

SEI Investments Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.49 per share. 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 is Friday, December 27th. SEI Investments's payout ratio is presently 23.67%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SEIC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on SEI Investments from $76.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on SEI Investments from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on SEI Investments from $77.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of SEI Investments from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, SEI Investments has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $83.25.

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.