Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Purchases Shares of 15,449 SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund purchased a new stake in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 15,449 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $406,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SLM. Truist Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of SLM by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 9,052 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $250,000 after purchasing an additional 960 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of SLM by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 30,336 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $871,000 after purchasing an additional 1,682 shares during the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of SLM during the 4th quarter worth $218,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of SLM by 314.7% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 212,531 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $5,813,000 after purchasing an additional 161,283 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in shares of SLM during the 4th quarter worth $86,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.94% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Robert S. Strong sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.57, for a total transaction of $1,142,800.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 43,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,233,166.91. The trade was a 48.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on SLM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of SLM from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of SLM from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of SLM from $26.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of SLM from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of SLM from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $30.91.

SLM Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of SLM stock opened at $32.53 on Thursday. SLM Co. has a 52-week low of $19.39 and a 52-week high of $32.65. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.37. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $28.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $24.80. The firm has a market cap of $6.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 1.22.

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

SLM Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. SLM’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.62%.

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.