Franklin Resources Inc. Acquires 125,926 Shares of SEI Investments (NASDAQ:SEIC)

Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of SEI Investments (NASDAQ:SEIC) by 39.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 446,408 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 125,926 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in SEI Investments were worth $36,820,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC increased its holdings in SEI Investments by 249.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 885,113 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $61,241,000 after purchasing an additional 632,024 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of SEI Investments by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 10,939 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $761,000 after acquiring an additional 425 shares during the last quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario bought a new stake in shares of SEI Investments in the 3rd quarter valued at about $257,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of SEI Investments in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $540,000. Finally, Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new position in SEI Investments during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $45,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.59% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Oppenheimer upped their target price 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 restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective (up previously from $86.00) on shares of SEI Investments in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on SEI Investments from $77.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Raymond James upgraded SEI Investments from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $99.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on SEI Investments from $84.00 to $81.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, SEI Investments presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

SEI Investments Trading Down 6.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ SEIC opened at $69.02 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $79.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $78.72. The firm has a market cap of $8.76 billion, a PE ratio of 15.62, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.94. SEI Investments has a 1-year low of $62.38 and a 1-year high of $87.25.

SEI Investments (NASDAQ:SEIC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The asset manager reported $1.19 EPS 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%. Equities research analysts forecast that SEI Investments will post 4.86 EPS for the current year.

SEI Investments declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, March 18th that authorizes the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the asset manager to purchase up to 5.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.