Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $11.52 Million Stake in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM)

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its position in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) by 31.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 503,911 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 227,633 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.23% of SLM worth $11,524,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of SLM. Boston Partners increased its stake in SLM by 5.7% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 12,461,356 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $271,626,000 after purchasing an additional 674,424 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in SLM by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,687,920 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $118,248,000 after buying an additional 119,342 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in SLM by 23.9% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,453,521 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $92,589,000 after acquiring an additional 859,625 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in SLM by 3,800.6% in 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 acquiring an additional 2,344,691 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of SLM by 107.1% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,366,642 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $49,202,000 after acquiring an additional 1,224,015 shares in the last quarter. 98.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on SLM. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of SLM from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of SLM from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Bank of America initiated coverage on SLM in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. They set a “buy” rating and a $27.00 price objective for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on SLM from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $26.00 price target on shares of SLM in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, SLM currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $25.45.

SLM Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of SLM stock opened at $24.47 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $22.46 and a 200 day moving average of $21.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.27. SLM Co. has a 1-year low of $13.93 and a 1-year high of $24.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.20 billion, a PE ratio of 8.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.16.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The credit services provider reported ($0.23) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by ($0.30). The firm had revenue of $652.64 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $363.40 million. SLM had a net margin of 22.18% and a return on equity of 35.92%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.11 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that SLM Co. will post 2.73 earnings per share for the current year.

SLM Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. This is a boost from SLM’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.13%. SLM’s payout ratio is presently 18.12%.

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.