Heritage Investors Management Corp Has $5.37 Million Stock Holdings in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM)

Heritage Investors Management Corp trimmed its stake in shares of SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 280,621 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 4,859 shares during the quarter. Heritage Investors Management Corp owned about 0.12% of SLM worth $5,365,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sapient Capital LLC acquired a new stake in SLM during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,785,000. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of SLM in the third quarter valued at about $713,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its position in SLM by 13.6% during the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 10,266 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $196,000 after acquiring an additional 1,233 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in SLM by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 48,610 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $929,000 after purchasing an additional 995 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its holdings in SLM by 25.5% in the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 155,595 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,092,000 after purchasing an additional 31,595 shares during the period. 98.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at SLM

In other news, SVP Jonathan Boyles sold 94,078 shares of SLM stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.72, for a total transaction of $1,949,296.16. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 52,751 shares in the company, valued at $1,093,000.72. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wedbush raised their target price on shares of SLM from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on SLM in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $25.00 target price for the company. Citigroup raised SLM from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $14.00 to $23.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. TheStreet upgraded shares of SLM from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of SLM from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, SLM currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.32.

SLM Price Performance

SLM stock traded up $0.18 during trading on Thursday, reaching $21.94. 694,380 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,075,906. SLM Co. has a twelve month low of $12.26 and a twelve month high of $22.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.23. The company has a market capitalization of $4.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.80, a P/E/G ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a 50-day moving average of $21.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $18.73.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The credit services provider reported $1.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.09 by $0.18. SLM had a return on equity of 45.65% and a net margin of 25.15%. The company had revenue of $837.72 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $376.43 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.47 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that SLM Co. will post 2.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SLM announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, January 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $650.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the credit services provider to purchase up to 14.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

SLM Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 6th will be given a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 6th. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.01%. SLM’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.75%.

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.