Raymond James & Associates Sells 3,848 Shares of SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM)

Raymond James & Associates trimmed its position in shares of SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 170,845 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 3,848 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates owned approximately 0.08% of SLM worth $3,907,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SLM. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of SLM by 46.8% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 5,903 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $129,000 after purchasing an additional 1,883 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in SLM by 3.1% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 21,959 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $478,000 after buying an additional 664 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in SLM by 77.8% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 64,514 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,406,000 after buying an additional 28,236 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in SLM by 626.7% in the first quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 10,900 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $238,000 after buying an additional 9,400 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in SLM in the first quarter valued at approximately $216,000. 98.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SLM has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of SLM from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of SLM from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 7th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $26.00 price objective on shares of SLM in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of SLM from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $26.00 target price on shares of SLM in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, SLM currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $25.45.

SLM Trading Down 1.5 %

SLM opened at $21.70 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.56, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.16. SLM Co. has a 12 month low of $13.52 and a 12 month high of $23.95. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $22.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.07 by ($0.30). SLM had a net margin of 22.18% and a return on equity of 35.92%. The company had revenue of $652.64 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $363.40 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.11 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that SLM Co. will post 2.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SLM Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders 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 is a positive change from SLM’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.40%. SLM’s payout ratio is currently 15.33%.

About SLM

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.