Waldron Private Wealth LLC Buys New Shares in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM)

Waldron Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 1,377 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $31,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in SLM by 13.3% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,077 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $116,000 after buying an additional 594 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of SLM by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 21,959 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $478,000 after purchasing an additional 664 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning grew its position in shares of SLM by 5.3% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 18,708 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $428,000 after purchasing an additional 942 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in SLM by 9.9% during the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 11,017 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $240,000 after buying an additional 990 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in SLM by 358.7% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,399 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 1,094 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.94% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SLM has been the topic of several recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on SLM from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of SLM from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on SLM from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $26.00 price objective on shares of SLM in a research report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $24.67.

SLM Stock Performance

Shares of SLM stock opened at $22.21 on Friday. SLM Co. has a 52 week low of $12.26 and a 52 week high of $23.95. The company has a market capitalization of $4.88 billion, a PE ratio of 6.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.15. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $21.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $21.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.66.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The credit services provider reported ($0.23) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by ($0.30). SLM had a net margin of 24.67% and a return on equity of 41.84%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.11 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that SLM Co. will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

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 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.