State of Alaska Department of Revenue Sells 3,785 Shares of SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM)

State of Alaska Department of Revenue trimmed its holdings in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM – Get Rating) by 9.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 34,900 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 3,785 shares during the quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in SLM were worth $488,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in SLM. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of SLM by 9.8% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 20,007,968 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $318,927,000 after buying an additional 1,785,938 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in SLM by 53.0% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,530,000 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $83,171,000 after purchasing an additional 1,570,000 shares during the last quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP bought a new stake in SLM during the 2nd quarter worth about $9,182,000. FMR LLC raised its holdings in SLM by 12.2% during the 2nd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,175,823 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $82,503,000 after purchasing an additional 564,507 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in SLM by 72.2% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 954,126 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $15,209,000 after purchasing an additional 400,048 shares during the last quarter. 96.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

SLM Price Performance

Shares of SLM opened at $17.19 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.19, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.23. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $16.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $16.00. SLM Co. has a 52-week low of $13.72 and a 52-week high of $20.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.30 billion, a PE ratio of 5.60 and a beta of 1.18.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 26th. The credit services provider reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by ($0.18). SLM had a return on equity of 47.71% and a net margin of 35.01%. The firm had revenue of $369.51 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $347.69 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.24 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that SLM Co. will post 2.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SLM Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 2nd were given a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.56%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 1st. SLM’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 14.33%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on SLM. Morgan Stanley began coverage on SLM in a report on Friday, October 7th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $15.00 price objective for the company. Stephens boosted their target price on SLM from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on SLM from $17.00 to $18.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Citigroup lowered SLM from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $18.00 to $17.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 13th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on SLM from $20.00 to $22.00 in a research report on Friday, January 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $18.80.

SLM Company Profile

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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 also offers retail deposit accounts, including certificates of deposit, money market deposit accounts, and high-yield savings accounts; and omnibus accounts, as well as credit card loans.