Wellington Management Group LLP Acquires 66,007 Shares of SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM)

Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) by 24.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 333,391 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 66,007 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP owned 0.15% of SLM worth $6,374,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of SLM. Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in SLM by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 7,891 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $151,000 after acquiring an additional 565 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of SLM by 81.4% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,328 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 596 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC grew its stake in SLM by 46.4% during the 4th quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 2,330 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 739 shares during the last quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC increased its position in SLM by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 26,541 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $507,000 after buying an additional 772 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alaska Permanent Fund Corp raised its stake in SLM by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp now owns 138,686 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,652,000 after buying an additional 786 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.94% of the company’s stock.

SLM Price Performance

NASDAQ:SLM opened at $20.79 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.23. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $21.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $20.31. SLM Co. has a 1-year low of $12.26 and a 1-year high of $22.74. The firm has a market cap of $4.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 1.16.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The credit services provider reported $1.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.09 by $0.18. SLM had a net margin of 25.15% and a return on equity of 45.65%. The company had revenue of $837.72 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $376.43 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.47 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that SLM Co. will post 2.76 EPS for the current year.

SLM Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 6th were given a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 6th. SLM’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SLM has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of SLM from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of SLM from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of SLM from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $28.00 target price on shares of SLM in a research note on Thursday, May 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on SLM from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.18.

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.