SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) Shares Sold by Swiss National Bank

Swiss National Bank decreased its holdings in shares of SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 385,988 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 3,900 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in SLM were worth $8,828,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SLM. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake 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 worth $55,034,000 after acquiring an additional 2,344,691 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of SLM by 107.1% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,366,642 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $49,202,000 after acquiring an additional 1,224,015 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of SLM by 253.8% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,290,997 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $26,840,000 after acquiring an additional 926,120 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of SLM by 23.9% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners boosted its stake in shares of SLM by 5.7% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 12,461,356 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $271,626,000 after acquiring an additional 674,424 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.94% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on SLM. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $26.00 price target on shares of SLM in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays reduced their target price on SLM from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on SLM from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Bank of America assumed coverage on SLM in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $27.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $26.00 target price on shares of SLM in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $25.45.

SLM Trading Up 2.8 %

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

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The credit services provider reported ($0.23) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.07 by ($0.30). The business had revenue of $652.64 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $363.40 million. SLM had a net margin of 22.18% and a return on equity of 35.92%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.11 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that SLM Co. will post 2.73 EPS 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 issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.87%. This is an increase from SLM’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. SLM’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.