SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) Shares Purchased by Nisa Investment Advisors LLC

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) by 4.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 101,498 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,449 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in SLM were worth $1,941,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in SLM by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,551,727 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $427,418,000 after acquiring an additional 177,312 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in shares of SLM by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 21,483,681 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $350,614,000 after buying an additional 75,771 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of SLM by 17.6% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,605,432 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $81,839,000 after buying an additional 988,172 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,570,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldentree Asset Management LP raised its stake in shares of SLM by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter. Goldentree Asset Management LP now owns 4,282,732 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $58,331,000 after buying an additional 357,235 shares in the last quarter. 98.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at SLM

In other SLM news, SVP Jonathan Boyles sold 94,078 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.72, for a total value of $1,949,296.16. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 52,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,093,000.72. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Donna F. Vieira sold 12,308 shares of SLM stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.27, for a total transaction of $249,483.16. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 126,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,564,155. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jonathan Boyles sold 94,078 shares of SLM stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.72, for a total value of $1,949,296.16. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 52,751 shares in the company, valued at $1,093,000.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.91% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SLM. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on SLM from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on SLM from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Citigroup raised SLM from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $14.00 to $23.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on SLM in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $25.00 target price for the company. Finally, TheStreet raised SLM from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, SLM has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $19.95.

SLM Price Performance

Shares of SLM stock opened at $20.67 on Friday. SLM Co. has a twelve month low of $12.26 and a twelve month high of $21.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.61, a PEG ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $20.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $17.71.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The credit services provider reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by ($0.15). SLM had a net margin of 20.65% and a return on equity of 36.86%. The firm had revenue of $725.66 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $379.20 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.33) EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that SLM Co. will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current year.

SLM announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, January 24th that allows the company to buyback $650.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the credit services provider to purchase up to 14.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

SLM Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 4th were given a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. SLM’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.33%.

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.