ARGA Investment Management LP Trims Stock Holdings in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM)

ARGA Investment Management LP lowered its stake in shares of SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) by 74.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 18,116 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 52,503 shares during the period. ARGA Investment Management LP’s holdings in SLM were worth $500,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of SLM by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,923,576 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $158,342,000 after purchasing an additional 43,927 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in SLM by 7.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,762,328 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $108,936,000 after buying an additional 331,490 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of SLM by 3,800.6% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,406,384 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $55,034,000 after buying an additional 2,344,691 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of SLM by 0.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,758,057 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $40,207,000 after buying an additional 15,252 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vest Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of SLM by 16.9% in the third quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 1,291,153 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $29,529,000 after acquiring an additional 186,522 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.94% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at SLM

In related news, Director Robert S. Strong sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.25, for a total transaction of $122,625.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 83,130 shares in the company, valued at $2,265,292.50. This represents a 5.14 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on SLM shares. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of SLM from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Compass Point increased their price objective on SLM from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on SLM from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $26.00 price target on shares of SLM in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on SLM from $26.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $29.82.

SLM Stock Up 3.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ SLM opened at $29.01 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.95, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.37, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 1.27. SLM Co. has a one year low of $18.84 and a one year high of $31.49. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $27.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $24.21.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The credit services provider reported $0.50 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, analysts expect that SLM Co. will post 3.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SLM Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be paid a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. SLM’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.