Intech Investment Management LLC Has $1.64 Million Stake in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM)

Intech Investment Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) by 43.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 71,715 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 54,032 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC’s holdings in SLM were worth $1,640,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in SLM by 9.9% during the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 11,017 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $240,000 after purchasing an additional 990 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in SLM by 156.7% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 168,630 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,674,000 after purchasing an additional 102,928 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in SLM by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 816,274 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $17,788,000 after purchasing an additional 26,064 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in SLM by 114.6% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 228,239 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $4,971,000 after purchasing an additional 121,886 shares during the period. Finally, Redwood Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in SLM during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,504,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.94% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

SLM Trading Up 2.8 %

SLM stock opened at $27.88 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $23.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.85. SLM Co. has a fifty-two week low of $14.03 and a fifty-two week high of $28.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.27.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 22.18% and a return on equity of 35.92%. The business had revenue of $652.64 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $363.40 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.11 earnings per share. Analysts expect that SLM Co. will post 2.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SLM Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be paid a $0.13 dividend. This is a boost from SLM’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. SLM’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.33%.

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.