American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM – Free Report) by 18.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,211,100 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 352,202 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned 0.91% of SLM worth $26,997,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SLM. Raymond James & Associates raised its stake in shares of SLM by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 156,130 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,867,000 after purchasing an additional 3,913 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC bought a new stake in SLM in the 1st quarter valued at $262,000. MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its stake in SLM by 26.9% in the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 180,359 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,311,000 after acquiring an additional 38,282 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS raised its stake in SLM by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 102,214 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,877,000 after acquiring an additional 5,012 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in SLM by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,541,444 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $101,733,000 after acquiring an additional 45,321 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 95.07% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $20.00 price target on shares of SLM in a research note on Thursday, July 27th. Compass Point upped their price objective on SLM from $18.00 to $19.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 11th. Stephens upped their price objective on SLM from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 28th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on SLM in a report on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, SLM has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $17.91.
Insider Transactions at SLM
In other news, EVP Nicolas Jafarieh sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.12, for a total value of $120,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 162,664 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,622,143.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.91% of the company’s stock.
SLM Stock Performance
Shares of SLM opened at $14.48 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.27 billion, a PE ratio of 9.46 and a beta of 1.22. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $15.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $14.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.35, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.22. SLM Co. has a 1 year low of $10.81 and a 1 year high of $17.92.
SLM (NASDAQ:SLM – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 26th. The credit services provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.16 by ($0.06). SLM had a net margin of 14.71% and a return on equity of 24.09%. The company had revenue of $777.96 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $370.15 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.29 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that SLM Co. will post 2.65 EPS for the current year.
SLM Announces Dividend
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 1st will be issued a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 31st. SLM’s payout ratio is currently 28.76%.
About SLM
SLM Corporation, through its subsidiaries, originates and services private education loans to students and their families to finance the cost of their education in the United States. It also offers retail deposit accounts, including certificates of deposit, money market deposit accounts, and high-yield savings accounts; and interest-bearing omnibus accounts.
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