SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) Director Sells $122,625.00 in Stock

SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) Director Robert S. Strong sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.25, for a total value of $122,625.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 83,130 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,265,292.50. This trade represents a 5.14 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

SLM Stock Up 1.1 %

SLM stock opened at $26.57 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.21. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $23.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $22.19. SLM Co. has a 1-year low of $15.95 and a 1-year high of $28.22. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The credit services provider reported ($0.23) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by ($0.30). SLM had a net margin of 22.18% and a return on equity of 35.92%. The company had revenue of $652.64 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $363.40 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.11 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that SLM Co. will post 2.73 earnings per share for the current year.

SLM Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be given a $0.13 dividend. This is a positive change from SLM’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. SLM’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.33%.

Institutional Trading of SLM

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of SLM by 0.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,923,576 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $158,342,000 after purchasing an additional 43,927 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in SLM by 2.1% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,687,920 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $118,248,000 after buying an additional 119,342 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in SLM by 7.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,762,328 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $108,936,000 after buying an additional 331,490 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in SLM by 23.9% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,453,521 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $92,589,000 after acquiring an additional 859,625 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of SLM by 3,800.6% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,406,384 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $55,034,000 after acquiring an additional 2,344,691 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.94% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SLM has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of SLM from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $26.00 target price on shares of SLM in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays dropped their price target on SLM from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $26.00 target price on shares of SLM in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of SLM in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. They set a “buy” rating and a $27.00 price target for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, SLM currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $25.45.

SLM Company 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.