Treasurer of the State of North Carolina Sells 1,640 Shares of SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM)

Treasurer of the State of North Carolina cut its holdings in shares of SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 92,705 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 1,640 shares during the quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina’s holdings in SLM were worth $2,557,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of SLM. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of SLM by 32.2% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,849 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA increased its holdings in SLM by 86.4% in the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 971 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in SLM by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 33,825 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $933,000 after buying an additional 552 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. boosted its holdings in SLM by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 24,263 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $669,000 after buying an additional 729 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Truist Financial Corp grew its position in shares of SLM by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 9,052 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $250,000 after buying an additional 960 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.94% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other SLM news, Director Robert S. Strong sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.57, for a total transaction of $1,142,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 43,163 shares in the company, valued at $1,233,166.91. The trade was a 48.10 % 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. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

SLM Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:SLM opened at $26.28 on Thursday. SLM Co. has a 12-month low of $19.39 and a 12-month high of $32.65. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $28.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.91. The firm has a market cap of $5.53 billion, a PE ratio of 9.92, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.37.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The credit services provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by ($0.06). SLM had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 20.73%. Equities research analysts predict that SLM Co. will post 3.07 earnings per share for the current year.

SLM Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th were given a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.98%. SLM’s dividend payout ratio is 19.62%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on SLM. Compass Point increased their price target on shares of SLM from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of SLM from $30.00 to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of SLM from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on SLM from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on SLM from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.18.

SLM Company Profile

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.