Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Invests $29,000 in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. purchased a new position in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 1,500 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $29,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of SLM by 81.4% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,328 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 596 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of SLM by 51.9% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 5,632 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $77,000 after buying an additional 1,925 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its position in shares of SLM by 10.4% in the third quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 9,033 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $123,000 after buying an additional 851 shares in the last quarter. MQS Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of SLM in the third quarter worth $144,000. Finally, Versor Investments LP purchased a new stake in SLM during the third quarter valued at about $163,000. 98.94% of the stock is owned by 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 transaction of $1,949,296.16. Following the sale, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 transaction of $1,949,296.16. Following the sale, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Donna F. Vieira sold 12,308 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.27, for a total value of $249,483.16. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 126,500 shares in the company, valued at $2,564,155. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.91% of the company’s stock.

SLM Stock Performance

SLM stock opened at $21.90 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $20.94 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $18.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.23. The stock has a market cap of $4.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.84, a PEG ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 1.16. SLM Co. has a fifty-two week low of $12.26 and a fifty-two week high of $22.37.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The credit services provider reported $1.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.09 by $0.18. SLM had a return on equity of 45.65% and a net margin of 25.15%. The business had revenue of $837.72 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $376.43 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.47 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that SLM Co. will post 2.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SLM announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, January 24th that permits the company to repurchase $650.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the credit services provider to repurchase up to 14.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

SLM Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 6th will be paid a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 5th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.01%. SLM’s payout ratio is presently 13.75%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on SLM. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on SLM from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Wedbush raised their price target on SLM from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on SLM from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on SLM in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $25.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Citigroup upgraded SLM from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $14.00 to $23.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.32.

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.