Asset managers
SEI Investments Co.
(
SEIC
) and
Lazard Ltd.
(
LAZ
) jumped on the bandwagon of boosting shareholders' value. Both
the companies have announced new capital deployment programs.
Pennsylvania-based SEI Investments announced a 6.7% increase in
its regular half-yearly dividend to 16 cents per share. The board
of directors at the company also announced a one-time, special
cash dividend of 32 cents per share. Both the dividends will be
payable on Dec 28, 2012 to shareholders of record on Dec 21,
2012.
Additionally, SEI Investment's board of directors approved a $50
million increase in its existing share repurchase program.
Therefore, this resulted in rise in repurchase authorization to
roughly $100 million. Year-to-date, the company repurchased
approximately 7.1 million shares for approximately $146 million.
As of Sep 30, 2012, cash and short-term investments at SEI
Investment were $398 million.
Likewise, New York-based Lazard's board of directors approved a
special dividend of 20 cents per share on its outstanding Class A
common stock. Further, the payment and record dates of Lazard's
regular quarterly dividend of 20 cents per share has been
preponed from Feb 2013. The special dividend along with the
regular dividend is payable on Dec 27, 2012 to stockholders of
record on Dec 21, 2012.
Lazard's financial position is strong and exposed to lower risk.
Cash and cash equivalents as of Sep 30, 2012, totaled $883
million. Moreover, the company has returned $432 million to
shareholders, year-to-date. This includes returning the targeted
$200 million of surplus cash to shareholders by 2013.
Earlier another asset management firm,
Franklin Resources Inc.
(
BEN
) enhanced its quarterly common stock dividend by 7% to 29 cents
per share, which will be paid on Dec 31, 2012 to shareholders of
record as of Dec 14, 2012. This marks Franklin's 32nd consecutive
year of dividend increase, reflecting its commitment to return
value to shareholders with its strong cash generation
capabilities. In mid-November, Franklin announced a special cash
dividend of 3 cents per share payable on Dec 20 to shareholders
of record as of Dec 6.
Further,
T. Rowe Price Group Inc.
(
TROW
) declared a special cash dividend of $1.00 per share, which will
be paid on Dec 28 to stockholders of record as of Dec17.
These capital deployment actions by the asset management firms
are part of the strategy to enhance shareholders' value through
prudent capital management. Further, the declaration of special
dividends comes as a result of probable increase in tax on
dividends from 2013.
SEI Investments and Lazard both retain a Zacks #3 Rank, which
translates into a short-term Hold rating. We believe that the
announcement of enhanced capital deployment activities will be an
appropriate step for these companies to enhance investors'
confidence, which might lead to positive estimate revisions in
the near term. This, in turn, could cause an improvement in their
Zacks Rank.
FRANKLIN RESOUR (BEN): Free Stock Analysis
Report
LAZARD LTD (LAZ): Free Stock Analysis Report
SEI INVESTMENTS (SEIC): Free Stock Analysis
Report
T ROWE PRICE (TROW): Free Stock Analysis
Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Zacks Investment
Research