SG Americas Securities LLC Decreases Stake in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM)

SG Americas Securities LLC reduced its stake in shares of SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) by 96.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,493 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 328,041 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in SLM were worth $240,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in SLM. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in shares of SLM by 107.1% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,366,642 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $49,202,000 after buying an additional 1,224,015 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of SLM by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,136,784 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $633,575,000 after buying an additional 1,151,557 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of SLM by 253.8% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,290,997 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $26,840,000 after buying an additional 926,120 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of SLM by 23.9% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,453,521 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $92,589,000 after buying an additional 859,625 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners boosted its position in shares of SLM by 5.7% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 12,461,356 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $271,626,000 after buying an additional 674,424 shares in the last quarter. 98.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Bank of America started coverage on shares of SLM in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $27.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of SLM from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 7th. Wedbush reduced their target price on shares of SLM from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of SLM from $23.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of SLM from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $24.83.

Insider Transactions at SLM

In other news, Director Robert S. Strong sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.70, for a total value of $102,150.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 101,093 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,294,811.10. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

SLM Trading Down 1.1 %

NASDAQ SLM opened at $22.95 on Tuesday. SLM Co. has a 12 month low of $12.26 and a 12 month high of $23.95. The company has a 50-day moving average of $21.76 and a 200-day moving average of $21.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The company has a market cap of $4.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.16, a P/E/G ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.15.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The credit services provider reported $1.11 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.32. SLM had a return on equity of 41.84% and a net margin of 24.67%. The company had revenue of $783.28 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $368.97 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.10 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that SLM Co. will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current year.

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.