Utah Retirement Systems Cuts Stock Position in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM)

Utah Retirement Systems lessened its stake in shares of SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM – Get Rating) by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 13,300 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 1,300 shares during the quarter. Utah Retirement Systems’ holdings in SLM were worth $186,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SLM. Impactive Capital LP raised its position in SLM by 10.1% in the third quarter. Impactive Capital LP now owns 22,593,389 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $316,082,000 after acquiring an additional 2,080,790 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in SLM in the third quarter valued at $28,490,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 1,785,938 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in SLM by 53.0% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,530,000 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $83,171,000 after purchasing an additional 1,570,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in SLM by 13.8% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,918,784 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $68,814,000 after purchasing an additional 596,937 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on SLM. Barclays decreased their price objective on SLM from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on SLM from $17.00 to $18.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 10th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on SLM from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. Credit Suisse Group decreased their price objective on SLM from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on SLM from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, SLM presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $17.92.

SLM Stock Performance

SLM stock opened at $12.25 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $15.67 and its 200-day moving average is $15.86. The company has a market cap of $2.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.21 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.55, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.21. SLM Co. has a 12 month low of $11.61 and a 12 month high of $20.17.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 2nd. The credit services provider reported ($0.33) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by ($0.79). The firm had revenue of $542.96 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $358.11 million. SLM had a return on equity of 27.83% and a net margin of 19.82%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.05 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that SLM Co. will post 2.46 earnings per share for the current year.

SLM Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 2nd. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.59%. SLM’s payout ratio is currently 25.88%.

SLM Company Profile

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SLM Corp. engages in the provision and administration of education loans. Its services include private education loans, banking, college savings, and insurance services. The company was founded in 1972 and is headquartered in Newark, DE.