Plato Investment Management Ltd Purchases New Shares in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM)

Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 4,107 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $114,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Private Trust Co. NA grew its position in SLM by 86.4% during the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 971 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new position in shares of SLM in the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of SLM during the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in SLM by 32.2% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,849 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the period. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in shares of SLM during the 4th quarter valued at $86,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.94% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on SLM shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on SLM from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. 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 research report on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of SLM from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on SLM from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of SLM from $26.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $30.91.

SLM Stock Performance

Shares of SLM stock opened at $29.12 on Wednesday. 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 $6.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.99, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.22. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $29.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $25.45. SLM Co. has a 12 month low of $19.39 and a 12 month high of $32.65.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The credit services provider reported $0.50 EPS 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%. On average, equities research analysts expect that SLM Co. will post 3.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SLM Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be given a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.79%. SLM’s payout ratio is 19.62%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Robert S. Strong sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.57, for a total value of $1,142,800.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 43,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,233,166.91. This represents a 48.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

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.