Merit Financial Group LLC Grows Stake in SEI Investments (NASDAQ:SEIC)

Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of SEI Investments (NASDAQ:SEIC) by 81.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,615 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,877 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in SEI Investments were worth $548,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in SEI Investments by 73.1% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,125,659 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $67,798,000 after purchasing an additional 475,226 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in SEI Investments by 299.3% in the 3rd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 477,981 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,778,000 after purchasing an additional 358,282 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in SEI Investments by 69.3% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 381,037 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $22,950,000 after purchasing an additional 155,991 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in SEI Investments by 43.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 360,732 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $21,727,000 after purchasing an additional 109,962 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in SEI Investments by 76.2% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 247,271 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $14,892,000 after purchasing an additional 106,967 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.59% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of SEI Investments from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of SEI Investments from $72.00 to $69.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $74.00 price objective (up from $72.00) on shares of SEI Investments in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of SEI Investments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.00.

SEI Investments Stock Up 0.2 %

NASDAQ:SEIC opened at $68.30 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $68.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $64.02. SEI Investments has a 52 week low of $52.19 and a 52 week high of $72.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.03.

SEI Investments (NASDAQ:SEIC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The asset manager reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.01. SEI Investments had a return on equity of 22.91% and a net margin of 24.80%. The company had revenue of $511.58 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $510.41 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.79 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that SEI Investments will post 4.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Alfred P. West, Jr. sold 19,363 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.14, for a total value of $1,396,846.82. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 7,865,471 shares in the company, valued at $567,415,077.94. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Chairman Alfred P. West, Jr. sold 150,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.75, for a total value of $10,612,500.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 7,884,834 shares in the company, valued at $557,852,005.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Alfred P. West, Jr. sold 19,363 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.14, for a total value of $1,396,846.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 7,865,471 shares in the company, valued at approximately $567,415,077.94. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 189,363 shares of company stock worth $13,358,877 over the last ninety days. 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.