19,437 Shares in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) Bought by New Age Alpha Advisors LLC

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 19,437 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $536,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp raised its position 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 worth $158,342,000 after purchasing an additional 43,927 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new position in shares of SLM during the third quarter valued at approximately $3,250,000. Amundi raised its holdings in shares of SLM by 103.4% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 135,014 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,712,000 after acquiring an additional 68,632 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in shares of SLM in the third quarter valued at approximately $268,000. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of SLM by 136.9% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 38,618 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $884,000 after acquiring an additional 22,315 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.94% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at SLM

In other news, Director Robert S. Strong sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now directly owns 43,163 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,233,166.91. This trade represents a 48.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SLM has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays raised their price objective on SLM from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target 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 increased their price objective on shares of SLM from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Compass Point boosted their target price on SLM from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on SLM from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $31.45.

SLM Stock Performance

NASDAQ SLM opened at $29.37 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $29.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $26.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.37. The stock has a market cap of $6.18 billion, a PE ratio of 11.08, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.23. SLM Co. has a twelve month low of $19.39 and a twelve month high of $32.65.

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

SLM Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were paid a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.77%. SLM’s payout ratio is presently 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.