ARGA Investment Management LP Has $500,000 Holdings in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM)

ARGA Investment Management LP trimmed its stake in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) by 74.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,116 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 52,503 shares during the period. ARGA Investment Management LP’s holdings in SLM were worth $500,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of SLM. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of SLM by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,923,576 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $158,342,000 after purchasing an additional 43,927 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted 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. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of SLM by 3,800.6% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,406,384 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $55,034,000 after acquiring an additional 2,344,691 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of SLM by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,758,057 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $40,207,000 after acquiring an additional 15,252 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vest Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of SLM by 16.9% in the 3rd quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 1,291,153 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $29,529,000 after purchasing an additional 186,522 shares during the period. 98.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other SLM news, Director Robert S. Strong sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director now directly owns 43,163 shares in the company, valued at $1,233,166.91. The trade was a 48.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on SLM. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on SLM from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of SLM from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Compass Point increased their target price on shares of SLM from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of SLM from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of SLM from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, SLM currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $29.82.

SLM Trading Up 3.6 %

Shares of SLM stock opened at $29.01 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 stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $24.21. SLM Co. has a 12-month low of $18.84 and a 12-month high of $31.49. The company has a market capitalization of $6.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.22.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The credit services provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.06). SLM had a net margin of 20.73% and a return on equity of 31.66%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that SLM Co. will post 3.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SLM Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be given a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.79%. SLM’s payout ratio is currently 19.62%.

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.