Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in SEI Investments (NASDAQ:SEIC)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of SEI Investments (NASDAQ:SEIC) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 219,533 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 4,551 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned about 0.17% of SEI Investments worth $18,107,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Aurora Investment Counsel raised its stake in SEI Investments by 0.6% in the third quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel now owns 25,162 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,741,000 after buying an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its stake in SEI Investments by 2.3% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 8,086 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $559,000 after buying an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC raised its stake in SEI Investments by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 35,602 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,936,000 after buying an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised 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 worth $32,000 after buying an additional 232 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC raised its stake in SEI Investments by 9.4% in the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 3,550 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $246,000 after buying an additional 306 shares in the last quarter. 70.59% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Alfred P. West, Jr. sold 5,984 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.23, for a total transaction of $504,032.32. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 7,371,522 shares in the company, valued at $620,903,298.06. This represents a 0.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 171,194 shares of company stock worth $14,579,872 over the last 90 days. 14.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

SEI Investments Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SEIC opened at $82.05 on Thursday. SEI Investments has a fifty-two week low of $62.38 and a fifty-two week high of $87.25. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $83.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $75.86. The company has a market capitalization of $10.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.98.

SEI Investments (NASDAQ:SEIC) last announced its 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, analysts forecast that SEI Investments will post 4.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SEI Investments announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, October 22nd that permits the company to buyback $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the asset manager to reacquire up to 4.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

SEI Investments Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th were issued a dividend of $0.49 per share. This is a boost from SEI Investments’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.46. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. This represents a dividend yield of 1.1%. SEI Investments’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.17%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on SEIC. Oppenheimer increased their price target 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. Raymond James raised shares of SEI Investments from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $99.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $90.00 price target (up from $86.00) on shares of SEI Investments in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of 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 given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.00.

SEI Investments 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.