State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Acquires 1,668 Shares of SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D raised its holdings in shares of SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) by 1.8% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 92,216 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,668 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in SLM were worth $2,109,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SLM. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in SLM by 362.9% in the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 338,534 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $7,038,000 after purchasing an additional 265,394 shares in the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp increased its position in shares of SLM by 50.7% during the second quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 290,636 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $6,042,000 after acquiring an additional 97,832 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in SLM by 77.8% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 64,514 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,406,000 after acquiring an additional 28,236 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in SLM by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 816,274 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $17,788,000 after acquiring an additional 26,064 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Shikiar Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in SLM by 19.5% during the 2nd quarter. Shikiar Asset Management Inc. now owns 211,350 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $4,394,000 after purchasing an additional 34,550 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.94% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on SLM. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on SLM from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of SLM from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on SLM from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of SLM from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on shares of SLM in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $27.00 price objective on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $25.45.

SLM Stock Performance

SLM opened at $24.02 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $5.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.37, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.16. SLM Co. has a 1-year low of $13.93 and a 1-year high of $24.59. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $21.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.27.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The credit services provider reported ($0.23) earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $652.64 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $363.40 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.11 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that SLM Co. will post 2.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SLM Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.16%. This is a boost from SLM’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. SLM’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.12%.

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.