SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) Shares Bought by Xponance Inc.

Xponance Inc. grew its position in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) by 3.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 24,263 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 729 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in SLM were worth $669,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Boston Partners boosted its position in SLM by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 12,246,797 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $338,889,000 after purchasing an additional 456,415 shares during the period. SouthState Corp acquired a new stake in shares of SLM in the fourth quarter valued at about $814,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of SLM by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 24,089 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $664,000 after buying an additional 1,231 shares during the period. Catalyst Funds Management Pty Ltd acquired a new position in SLM during the 4th quarter worth approximately $298,000. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC acquired a new position in SLM during the 4th quarter worth approximately $405,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.94% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other SLM news, Director Robert S. Strong sold 40,000 shares of SLM stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.57, for a total value of $1,142,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 43,163 shares in the company, valued at $1,233,166.91. The trade was a 48.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on SLM. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of SLM from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Compass Point boosted their price objective on shares of SLM from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on SLM from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on SLM from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on SLM from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $31.45.

SLM Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ SLM opened at $30.04 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.34, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.23. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $29.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.37. SLM Co. has a 52-week low of $19.39 and a 52-week high of $32.65.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The credit services provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.06). SLM had a net margin of 20.73% and a return on equity of 31.66%. On average, analysts anticipate that SLM Co. will post 3.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SLM Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th were given a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.73%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 5th. SLM’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.62%.

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.