Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Has $47.94 Million Holdings in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. cut its stake in shares of SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,738,235 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 19,822 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 0.82% of SLM worth $47,941,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SLM. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of SLM by 0.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,923,576 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $158,342,000 after buying an additional 43,927 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in SLM by 7.5% in 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 buying an additional 331,490 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in SLM by 2.8% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 669,263 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $15,306,000 after buying an additional 18,470 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of SLM by 35.3% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 415,607 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $9,596,000 after purchasing an additional 108,463 shares during the period. Finally, Portolan Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of SLM by 23.8% during the third quarter. Portolan Capital Management LLC now owns 394,437 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $9,021,000 after purchasing an additional 75,740 shares during the period. 98.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on SLM. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on SLM from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on SLM from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on SLM from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on SLM from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Compass Point raised their price objective on SLM from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.45.

SLM Stock Performance

SLM stock opened at $29.26 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $29.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $25.82. SLM Co. has a 1-year low of $19.39 and a 1-year high of $32.65. 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 firm has a market cap of $6.16 billion, a PE ratio of 11.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.23.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that SLM Co. will post 3.07 earnings per share for the current year.

SLM Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be given a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. SLM’s payout ratio is 19.62%.

Insider Activity at SLM

In other SLM news, Director Robert S. Strong sold 40,000 shares of SLM stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.57, for a total transaction of $1,142,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 43,163 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,233,166.91. The trade was a 48.10 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.