Sanctuary Advisors LLC Increases Stock Position in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM)

Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) by 5.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 30,336 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,682 shares during the quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC’s holdings in SLM were worth $871,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in SLM by 7.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,762,328 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $108,936,000 after acquiring an additional 331,490 shares during the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd acquired a new position in shares of SLM during the fourth quarter worth $6,488,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of SLM by 314.7% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 212,531 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $5,813,000 after purchasing an additional 161,283 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of SLM in the 3rd quarter worth $3,250,000. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in SLM by 124.8% during the 3rd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 222,264 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $5,083,000 after buying an additional 123,398 shares during the last quarter. 98.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at SLM

In other SLM news, Director Robert S. Strong sold 4,500 shares of the 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 83,130 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,265,292.50. This trade represents a 5.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

SLM Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:SLM opened at $30.12 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.34 billion, a PE ratio of 11.37, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.22. SLM Co. has a 12-month low of $19.39 and a 12-month high of $32.65. The business has a 50 day moving average of $28.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $25.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.37.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The credit services provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by ($0.06). SLM had a net margin of 20.73% and a return on equity of 31.66%. As a group, analysts forecast that SLM Co. will post 3.07 EPS for the current year.

SLM Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be given a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.73%. SLM’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.62%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SLM has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of SLM from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on SLM from $26.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on SLM from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on SLM from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on SLM from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Two equities research 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, SLM presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $30.91.

SLM 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.