SEI Investments (NASDAQ:SEIC) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

SEI Investments (NASDAQ:SEIC) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 2,060,000 shares, an increase of 29.6% from the February 13th total of 1,590,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 668,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.1 days. Currently, 2.2% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

SEI Investments Stock Performance

NASDAQ:SEIC traded up $0.89 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $74.87. 50,167 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 595,723. The firm has a market cap of $9.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.94. SEI Investments has a twelve month low of $62.38 and a twelve month high of $87.25. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $81.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $77.82.

SEI Investments (NASDAQ:SEIC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The asset manager reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.21 by ($0.02). SEI Investments had a return on equity of 25.51% and a net margin of 27.35%. On average, equities research analysts predict that SEI Investments will post 4.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at SEI Investments

In related news, Chairman Alfred P. West, Jr. sold 1,372 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chairman now directly owns 7,078,708 shares in the company, valued at $539,963,846.24. This represents a 0.02 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Mark Andrew Warner sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.39, for a total value of $401,950.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $104,507. The trade was a 79.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 79,214 shares of company stock valued at $6,293,903. 14.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SEIC. FMR LLC increased its position in SEI Investments by 249.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 885,113 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $61,241,000 after purchasing an additional 632,024 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of SEI Investments during the 4th quarter valued at about $48,009,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of SEI Investments during the 4th quarter valued at about $42,548,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of SEI Investments during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,702,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of SEI Investments by 13.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,520,430 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $174,092,000 after acquiring an additional 300,704 shares during the last quarter. 70.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SEIC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Raymond James upgraded SEI Investments from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $99.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective (up previously from $86.00) on shares of SEI Investments in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on SEI Investments from $85.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on SEI Investments from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on SEI Investments from $77.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, SEI Investments has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.00.

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.