SEI Investments (NASDAQ:SEIC) Upgraded by Morgan Stanley to “Overweight” Rating

SEI Investments (NASDAQ:SEIC) was upgraded by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has a $77.00 price objective on the asset manager’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $81.00. Morgan Stanley’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 11.56% from the stock’s current price.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of SEI Investments from $85.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $90.00 target price (up from $86.00) on shares of SEI Investments in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on SEI Investments from $77.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Raymond James raised SEI Investments from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $99.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, SEI Investments presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.40.

SEI Investments Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SEIC opened at $69.02 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $79.41 and a 200-day moving average of $78.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.62, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.90. 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 posted its quarterly 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 net margin of 27.35% and a return on equity of 25.51%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that SEI Investments will post 4.86 EPS for the current year.

SEI Investments announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, March 18th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the asset manager to repurchase up to 5.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at SEI Investments

In related news, Chairman Alfred P. West, Jr. sold 1,372 shares of SEI Investments stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.28, for a total transaction of $104,656.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 7,078,708 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $539,963,846.24. This trade represents a 0.02 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Mark Andrew Warner sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.39, for a total value of $401,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,300 shares in the company, valued at approximately $104,507. This represents a 79.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 79,214 shares of company stock worth $6,293,903 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 14.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of SEI Investments

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SEIC. CoreFirst Bank & Trust bought a new position in shares of SEI Investments during the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Allworth Financial LP grew its position in SEI Investments by 53.7% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 452 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in SEI Investments by 156.1% during the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 543 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 331 shares during the period. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in SEI Investments in the 3rd quarter valued at $45,000. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of SEI Investments by 25.4% during the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 578 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.59% of the company’s stock.

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.