Caxton Associates LP Has $2.19 Million Holdings in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM)

Caxton Associates LP boosted its holdings in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) by 42.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 79,279 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 23,703 shares during the quarter. Caxton Associates LP’s holdings in SLM were worth $2,187,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of SLM by 77.8% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 273,785 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $6,261,000 after buying an additional 119,796 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC acquired a new position in SLM in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,797,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in SLM by 35.3% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 415,607 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $9,596,000 after acquiring an additional 108,463 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of SLM by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 669,263 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $15,306,000 after acquiring an additional 18,470 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of SLM by 32.8% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,740 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $186,000 after purchasing an additional 1,663 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.94% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on SLM. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $33.00 price objective (up previously from $31.00) on shares of SLM in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of SLM from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on SLM from $30.00 to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on SLM from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on SLM from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, SLM currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $30.73.

SLM Price Performance

SLM stock opened at $31.19 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $28.30 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $27.41. SLM Co. has a 12 month low of $19.39 and a 12 month high of $32.65. The company has a market capitalization of $6.55 billion, a PE ratio of 11.77, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.37.

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

SLM Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 5th will be paid a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.67%. SLM’s payout ratio is 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.