SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) Shares Bought by Blue Trust Inc.

Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) by 358.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,399 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,094 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in SLM were worth $32,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Creative Planning increased its stake in shares of SLM by 5.3% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 18,708 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $428,000 after purchasing an additional 942 shares during the period. Shikiar Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of SLM by 9.7% during the third quarter. Shikiar Asset Management Inc. now owns 231,850 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $5,302,000 after acquiring an additional 20,500 shares during the period. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of SLM during the third quarter valued at approximately $217,000. CWM LLC increased its stake in shares of SLM by 187.6% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 42,899 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $981,000 after acquiring an additional 27,982 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of SLM by 13.3% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,077 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $116,000 after acquiring an additional 594 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.94% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on SLM. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $26.00 price objective on shares of SLM in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of SLM from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of SLM from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of SLM from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of SLM from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $25.45.

SLM Trading Down 1.5 %

SLM stock opened at $21.70 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $22.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.54. SLM Co. has a 52 week low of $13.52 and a 52 week high of $23.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.56, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.16.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The credit services provider reported ($0.23) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by ($0.30). SLM had a return on equity of 35.92% and a net margin of 22.18%. The firm had revenue of $652.64 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $363.40 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.11 EPS. Research analysts forecast that SLM Co. will post 2.75 EPS for the current year.

SLM Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.40%. This is a positive change from SLM’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. SLM’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.33%.

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.