Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Sells 1,042 Shares of SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lowered its stake in shares of SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 46,894 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 1,042 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in SLM were worth $1,293,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Private Trust Co. NA boosted its holdings in shares of SLM by 86.4% during the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 971 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new position in SLM during the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in SLM by 32.2% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,849 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in shares of SLM in the fourth quarter valued at about $86,000. Finally, Plato Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of SLM in the fourth quarter worth about $114,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.94% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other SLM news, Director Robert S. Strong sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now owns 43,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,233,166.91. This represents a 48.10 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on SLM from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of SLM from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Barclays lifted 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. Compass Point upped their price target on SLM from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on SLM from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, SLM presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.45.

SLM Price Performance

Shares of SLM stock opened at $30.04 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $29.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.29. SLM Co. has a one year low of $19.39 and a one year high of $32.65. The firm has a market cap of $6.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.34, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.37, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 1.27.

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

SLM Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.73%. SLM’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.62%.

SLM 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.