SEI Investments (NASDAQ:SEIC) Declares Semi-annual Dividend of $0.49

SEI Investments (NASDAQ:SEIC) declared a semi-annual dividend on Friday, December 13th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a dividend of 0.49 per share by the asset manager on Wednesday, January 8th. This represents a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. This is a positive change from SEI Investments’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.46.

SEI Investments has increased its dividend payment by an average of 7.3% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 33 years. SEI Investments has a payout ratio of 18.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect SEI Investments to earn $4.88 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.92 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 18.9%.

SEI Investments Stock Performance

NASDAQ:SEIC opened at $85.83 on Friday. SEI Investments has a fifty-two week low of $61.28 and a fifty-two week high of $87.25. The firm has a market cap of $11.06 billion, a PE ratio of 20.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.98. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $78.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $70.63.

SEI Investments (NASDAQ:SEIC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $537.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $534.08 million. SEI Investments had a net margin of 26.60% and a return on equity of 24.29%. The firm’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 company posted $0.87 EPS. Research analysts predict that SEI Investments will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other SEI Investments news, Chairman Alfred P. West, Jr. sold 5,984 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.23, for a total transaction of $504,032.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 7,371,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $620,903,298.06. This represents a 0.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Hicke sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.90, for a total transaction 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 93,058 shares of company stock worth $7,245,697 in the last three months. 14.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on SEIC shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of SEI Investments from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on SEI Investments from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on SEI Investments from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have issued 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 $77.50.

SEI Investments declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, October 22nd that authorizes the company to buyback $400.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the asset manager to reacquire up to 4.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.