Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC Makes New $8.77 Million Investment in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM)

Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 318,036 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $8,771,000. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC owned 0.15% of SLM as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Amundi grew its holdings in shares of SLM by 103.4% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 135,014 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,712,000 after purchasing an additional 68,632 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp grew its holdings in shares of SLM by 9.2% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 223,692 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $6,169,000 after purchasing an additional 18,754 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its holdings in shares of SLM by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 12,246,797 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $338,889,000 after purchasing an additional 456,415 shares in the last quarter. Discovery Capital Management LLC CT purchased a new position in shares of SLM during the fourth quarter worth about $5,775,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of SLM by 35.3% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 415,607 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $9,596,000 after purchasing an additional 108,463 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.94% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays boosted their target price on SLM from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on SLM from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on SLM from $30.00 to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on SLM from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on SLM from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, SLM currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $30.73.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Robert S. Strong sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.15, for a total value of $93,450.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 35,195 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,096,324.25. This represents a 7.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

SLM Stock Performance

Shares of SLM stock opened at $32.18 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.37, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.32. SLM Co. has a fifty-two week low of $19.39 and a fifty-two week high of $32.65. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $28.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $27.71. The company has a market capitalization of $6.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.14, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.05.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The credit services provider reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.21. SLM had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 20.73%. The firm had revenue of $374.97 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $359.83 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.27 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that SLM Co. will post 3.07 earnings per share for the current year.

SLM Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.62%. SLM’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.71%.

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.