Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC Sells 234,950 Shares of SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM)

Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lessened its stake in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) by 6.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,674,013 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 234,950 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC owned approximately 1.73% of SLM worth $84,025,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted 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 purchasing an additional 2,344,691 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of SLM by 107.1% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,366,642 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $49,202,000 after buying an additional 1,224,015 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of SLM by 253.8% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,290,997 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $26,840,000 after purchasing an additional 926,120 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of SLM by 23.9% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,453,521 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $92,589,000 after acquiring an additional 859,625 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of SLM by 69.1% in the 2nd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,002,825 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $20,849,000 after purchasing an additional 409,624 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.94% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on SLM. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $26.00 price target on shares of SLM in a report on Thursday, October 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on SLM from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Barclays decreased their price objective on SLM from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Bank of America assumed coverage on SLM in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. They set a “buy” rating and a $27.00 target price for the company. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $26.00 price objective on shares of SLM in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $25.45.

SLM Trading Down 3.0 %

SLM stock opened at $26.56 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $23.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $22.01. The company has a market capitalization of $5.64 billion, a PE ratio of 9.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.29. SLM Co. has a 52 week low of $15.64 and a 52 week high of $28.22.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The credit services provider reported ($0.23) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.07 by ($0.30). The company had revenue of $652.64 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $363.40 million. SLM had a return on equity of 35.92% and a net margin of 22.18%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.11 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that SLM Co. will post 2.73 earnings per share for the current year.

SLM Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be given a $0.13 dividend. This is a boost from SLM’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.96%. SLM’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.33%.

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.