Wall Street Zen Upgrades SEI Investments (NASDAQ:SEIC) to "Buy"

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of SEI Investments (NASDAQ:SEIC - Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Tuesday morning.

SEIC has been the topic of several other research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on SEI Investments from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. William Blair reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of SEI Investments in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Raymond James raised SEI Investments from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $99.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $82.00 price objective (up previously from $77.00) on shares of SEI Investments in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of SEI Investments in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, SEI Investments currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $87.60.

SEI Investments Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of SEI Investments stock traded up $0.64 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $84.47. 922,204 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 673,192. The business has a 50-day moving average of $76.75 and a 200-day moving average of $79.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.90. SEI Investments has a 1 year low of $62.38 and a 1 year high of $87.25.

SEI Investments (NASDAQ:SEIC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $551.34 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $556.76 million. SEI Investments had a return on equity of 25.51% and a net margin of 27.35%. SEI Investments's revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.99 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that SEI Investments will post 4.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SEI Investments announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, March 18th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the asset manager to purchase up to 5.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other SEI Investments news, EVP Michael Peterson sold 50,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.27, for a total transaction of $4,213,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 13,500 shares in the company, valued at $1,137,645. This trade represents a 78.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Alfred P. West, Jr. sold 72,842 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.45, for a total value of $5,787,296.90. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 7,160,080 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $568,868,356. This trade represents a 1.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 170,214 shares of company stock valued at $13,925,963. Insiders own 14.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. CoreFirst Bank & Trust bought a new stake in shares of SEI Investments in the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in shares of SEI Investments by 53.7% in the 4th 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. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of SEI Investments by 60.2% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 532 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of SEI Investments by 156.1% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 543 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 331 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of SEI Investments by 25.4% in the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 578 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.59% of the company's stock.

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.