SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) Shares Bought by Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI

Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI lifted its holdings in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 307,409 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,205 shares during the period. Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI owned about 0.14% of SLM worth $7,030,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC grew its position in SLM by 1,373.3% in the first quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,326 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 1,236 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of SLM by 358.7% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,399 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 1,094 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of SLM during the second quarter worth $60,000. Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of SLM by 378.1% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 3,050 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 2,412 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of SLM by 13.3% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,077 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $116,000 after purchasing an additional 594 shares during the period. 98.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at SLM

In other news, Director Robert S. Strong sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.70, for a total transaction of $102,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 101,093 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,294,811.10. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Wedbush cut their price objective on SLM from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of SLM from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of SLM from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on SLM from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on SLM in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. They set a “buy” rating and a $27.00 price target on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $24.83.

SLM Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ SLM opened at $23.21 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.66, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.26. The stock has a market cap of $5.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.23, a PEG ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.15. SLM Co. has a 52 week low of $12.26 and a 52 week high of $23.95. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.45.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The credit services provider reported $1.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $783.28 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $368.97 million. SLM had a return on equity of 41.84% and a net margin of 24.67%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.10 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that SLM Co. will post 2.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SLM Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 5th were given a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 5th. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.90%. SLM’s dividend payout ratio is 13.71%.

SLM Profile

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 is also involved in the provision of retail deposit accounts, including certificates of deposit, money market accounts, and high-yield savings accounts; and interest-bearing omnibus accounts.