West Coast Financial LLC Raises Stock Holdings in SEI Investments (NASDAQ:SEIC)

West Coast Financial LLC raised its stake in SEI Investments (NASDAQ:SEIC) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 118,103 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 721 shares during the quarter. SEI Investments accounts for about 1.1% of West Coast Financial LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position. West Coast Financial LLC’s holdings in SEI Investments were worth $9,741,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in SEIC. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its stake in SEI Investments by 101.3% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 461 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 232 shares during the last quarter. 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 last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd purchased a new position in shares of SEI Investments during the 3rd quarter valued at about $45,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its stake 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 buying an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of SEI Investments in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $136,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.59% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of SEI Investments from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Oppenheimer raised their price target on SEI Investments from $85.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target 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. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on SEI Investments from $77.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.75.

SEI Investments Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:SEIC opened at $81.88 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.56 billion, a PE ratio of 19.78, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.98. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $82.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $73.32. SEI Investments has a 1-year low of $62.34 and a 1-year high of $87.25.

SEI Investments (NASDAQ:SEIC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.12. SEI Investments had a net margin of 26.60% and a return on equity of 24.29%. The business had revenue of $537.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $534.08 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.87 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that SEI Investments will post 4.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SEI Investments Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th were paid a dividend of $0.49 per share. This represents a yield of 1.1%. This is an increase from SEI Investments’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.46. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. SEI Investments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.67%.

SEI Investments announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, October 22nd that permits the company to repurchase $400.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the asset manager to reacquire up to 4.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Michael Peterson sold 10,000 shares of SEI Investments stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.14, for a total value of $791,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,500 shares in the company, valued at $514,410. The trade was a 60.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Chairman Alfred P. West, Jr. sold 52,042 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.23, for a total transaction of $4,435,539.66. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 7,232,922 shares in the company, valued at approximately $616,461,942.06. This trade represents a 0.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 239,258 shares of company stock valued at $19,753,402. Corporate insiders own 14.30% 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.