Sei Investments Insider Sold Shares Worth $11,006,870, According to a Recent SEC Filing

Tradeweb Markets Inc. TW has partnered with the Tokyo Stock Exchange (“TSE”) to enhance liquidity for institutional investors in Japanese exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

This complements the company’s offering that allows its buy-side traders to transact Asia, Europe, and U.S.-listed ETFs, enjoying multi-dealer liquidity, enhanced pre-trade transparency and lucrative pricing.

Rationale Behind Tradeweb’s Collaboration

This collaboration allows a seamless connection between TW’s platform and TSE’s request-for-quote (RFQ) platform, CONNEQTOR. This platform has been developed to make ETF trades quicker and more cost-efficient for investors and is currently used by more than 250 institutional investors.

Through this partnership, Tradeweb’s buy-side clients can benefit from the liquidity offered by CONNEQTOR providers while initiating trade inquiries in the Tradeweb marketplace for Japan-listed ETFs.

Further, clients will be able to submit orders directly from Tradeweb’s interface to CONNEQTOR’s list of market makers while accessing Tradeweb’s existing network of liquidity providers and enjoying the best two-way quote back.

Clients will keep leveraging advanced features like Tradeweb’s AiEX, a rules-based automated execution tool, along with the post-trade infrastructure of TSE, where clearing and settlement of the transactions involving CONNEQTOR’s market makers will take place.

Enrico Bruni, Head of Europe and Asia Business at Tradeweb, said, “This exciting collaboration between Tradeweb and TSE’s CONNEQTOR platform demonstrates our focus on linking liquidity pools for the benefit of institutional investors looking to transfer risk with a higher degree of certainty. We are in the business of enhancing clients’ execution experience, and we look forward to bringing more time and cost efficiencies to investors trading Japanese ETFs, both locally and globally.”

TW’s Zacks Rank & Price Performance

Year to date, shares of TW have gained 42.6% compared with the industry’s rise of 39%.

Tradeweb currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Other Finance Firms Engaging in Strategic Collaborations

Earlier this month, SEI Investments Co. SEIC entered into a strategic partnership with Close Brothers Asset Management (“CBAM”) to power the latter’s operational growth and transformation.

SEIC will offer CBAM access to its SEI Wealth Platform and SEI Data Cloud to gain real-time data and analytics and leverage a fully integrated technology and operational outsourcing solution to enhance CBAM’s capabilities.

Last month, Citigroup, Inc. C entered into a multi-year agreement with Google Cloud, which is intended to support C's digital strategy through cloud technology and artificial intelligence. This collaboration aims to modernize Citigroup's technological infrastructure and improve employee and client experiences via cloud-based apps.

Through the collaboration, Citigroup will transition different workloads and apps to Google Cloud's safe and scalable infrastructure. The company will be able to deliver superior digital goods, expedite staff workflows and run high-performance computing and analytics platforms after updating its technology infrastructure on Google Cloud.

Zacks Investment Research

Growth stocks are attractive to many investors, as above-average financial growth helps these stocks easily grab the market's attention and produce exceptional returns. But finding a growth stock that can live up to its true potential can be a tough task.

By their very nature, these stocks carry above-average risk and volatility. Moreover, if a company's growth story is over or nearing its end, betting on it could lead to significant loss.

However, the Zacks Growth Style Score (part of the Zacks Style Scores system), which looks beyond the traditional growth attributes to analyze a company's real growth prospects, makes it pretty easy to find cutting-edge growth stocks.

SEI Investments (SEIC) is on the list of such stocks currently recommended by our proprietary system. In addition to a favorable Growth Score, it carries a top Zacks Rank.

Studies have shown that stocks with the best growth features consistently outperform the market. And for stocks that have a combination of a Growth Score of A or B and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy), returns are even better.

While there are numerous reasons why the stock of this investment management firm is a great growth pick right now, we have highlighted three of the most important factors below:

Earnings Growth

Earnings growth is arguably the most important factor, as stocks exhibiting exceptionally surging profit levels tend to attract the attention of most investors. And for growth investors, double-digit earnings growth is definitely preferable, and often an indication of strong prospects (and stock price gains) for the company under consideration.

While the historical EPS growth rate for SEI is 4%, investors should actually focus on the projected growth. The company's EPS is expected to grow 26.5% this year, crushing the industry average, which calls for EPS growth of 13.1%.

Impressive Asset Utilization Ratio

Asset utilization ratio -- also known as sales-to-total-assets (S/TA) ratio -- is often overlooked by investors, but it is an important indicator in growth investing. This metric shows how efficiently a firm is utilizing its assets to generate sales.

Right now, SEI has an S/TA ratio of 0.8, which means that the company gets $0.8 in sales for each dollar in assets. Comparing this to the industry average of 0.23, it can be said that the company is more efficient.

In addition to efficiency in generating sales, sales growth plays an important role. And SEI is well positioned from a sales growth perspective too. The company's sales are expected to grow 10.7% this year versus the industry average of 1%.

Promising Earnings Estimate Revisions

Beyond the metrics outlined above, investors should consider the trend in earnings estimate revisions. A positive trend is a plus here. Empirical research shows that there is a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and near-term stock price movements.

The current-year earnings estimates for SEI have been revising upward. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has surged 3.5% over the past month.

Bottom Line

SEI has not only earned a Growth Score of B based on a number of factors, including the ones discussed above, but it also carries a Zacks Rank #1 because of the positive earnings estimate revisions.

You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

This combination positions SEI well for outperformance, so growth investors may want to bet on it.

Zacks Investment Research

Trinity Capital Inc. TRIN shares rose 1.8% in after-hours trading following the announcement of a new share repurchase program on Thursday.

TRIN’s board of directors authorized a share buyback plan worth $30 million. The program is set to expire earlier of either Nov. 7, 2025, or full utilization of the authorization.

The company noted that it can “take advantage of situations where the Company's management believes share repurchases would be advantageous to the Company and to its shareholders.”

Earlier, in November 2022, Trinity Capital announced a share buyback authorization worth $25 million, which expired on Nov. 11, 2023. Under this, the company repurchased 0.9 million shares at a weighted average price of $10.91.

TRIN’s Dividend Distribution History

Other than the newly announced buyback program, TRIN regularly pays dividends.

Trinity Capital is a business development company and to maintain its regulated investment company status, it is required to distribute 90-100% of its taxable income to the shareholders.

At present, TRIN pays 51 cents per share as a quarterly dividend. It hiked the dividend by 2% in March 2024. Over the last five years, the company increased its quarterly dividend 10 times, with annualized dividend growth of 18.69%.

Based on Thursday's closing price of $13.63, TRIN has a dividend yield of 14.97%. This is impressive compared with the industry’s 10.12%. The yield is attractive for income investors and represents a steady income stream.

Trinity Capital Inc. Dividend Yield (TTM)

Trinity Capital Inc. dividend-yield-ttm | Trinity Capital Inc. Quote

Sustainability of Trinity Capital’s Capital Distributions

As of Sept. 30, 2024, Trinity Capital had $228.5 million in liquidity, including $8.5 million in unrestricted cash and cash equivalents.

For the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2024, the company reported total investment income of $166.9 million, which improved 24.5% year over year. On the other hand, net investment income per share of $1.54 declined 7.2% because of a jump in interest expense and other debt financing costs.

Nonetheless, given a robust liquidity position and decent earnings strength, the company is expected to continue with efficient capital distribution activities.

Shares of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company have lost 5.5% in the past three months against the industry’s growth of 4.2%. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Similar Steps by Other Finance Firms

Comerica Incorporated’s CMA board has approved an additional share repurchase authorization of up to 10 million shares of its outstanding common stock, with no expiration date. This new authorization is in addition to the 5 million shares available as of Sept. 30, 2024, under the prior share repurchase program.

In the fourth quarter of 2024, CMA plans to repurchase approximately $100 million shares.

SEI Investments Company SEIC approved a $400 million increase in its stock repurchase program in October 2024, bringing the total available authorization to approximately $429 million.

This includes the $29 million remaining under SEIC’s existing share repurchase authorization.

Zacks Investment Research

SEI Investments Co. SEIC has entered into a strategic partnership with Close Brothers Asset Management (“CBAM”) to power the latter’s operational growth and transformation.

Details of SEIC’s Collaboration

SEI Investments was chosen after an extensive, multi-stage evaluation process that included numerous providers. This strategic collaboration between SEI Investments Europe Ltd., SEIC’s wholly-owned UK subsidiary, and CBAM will provide the latter with advanced, integrated technology and services, such as data integration, migration and orchestration, to aid its delivery towards strategic goals.

SEIC will offer CBAM access to its SEI Wealth Platform and SEI Data Cloud, to gain real-time data and analytics and leverage a fully integrated technology and operational outsourcing solution to enhance CBAM’s capabilities.

Further, per the agreement, SEI Investments will offer employment to several CBAM employees in its SWP Operations team and both entities will collaborate closely to ensure a successful and smooth transition.

Jim London, CEO of SEI Investments Europe Limited, said, “CBAM is a leading UK wealth manager dedicated to delivering an end-to-end, modern wealth management experience for their clients. We're thrilled to partner with CBAM and to provide access to the full breadth of SEI's integrated technology, data, and operations solutions that can help them achieve their growth aspirations.”

This move aligns with SEIC’s growth strategy. This September, the company announced the integration of investment vehicles from KKR & Co. into its platform to enhance users’ accessibility to private markets. Further, in July, the company announced an enhanced integration with Canoe Intelligence to boost operational efficiency for family offices via the SEI Archway Platform.

Zacks Rank & Price Performance of SEI Investments

Year to date, shares of SEI Investments have risen 25.9% compared with the industry’s 30.9% growth.

Currently, SEIC sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Other Finance Firms Worth Considering

A couple of other top-ranked bank stocks are Northern Trust Corporation NTRS and Comerica Incorporated CMA.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NTRS has been marginally revised upward for 2024 over the past week. The stock price has increased 24.5% over the past six months. NTRS currently sports a Zacks Rank #1.

Earnings estimates for CMA have been revised marginally upward for the current year over the past week. In the past six months, CMA’s shares have risen 30.5%. Presently, CMA carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Zacks Investment Research