Geode Capital Management LLC Purchases 331,490 Shares of SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM)

Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) by 7.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,762,328 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 331,490 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC owned 2.24% of SLM worth $108,936,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of SLM. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in SLM during the 2nd quarter worth $235,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of SLM by 45.7% during the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 166,538 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,462,000 after purchasing an additional 52,247 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in SLM by 119.9% in the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 12,979 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $270,000 after purchasing an additional 7,076 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in SLM in the second quarter valued at about $60,000. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC bought a new position in SLM during the second quarter worth about $298,000. Institutional investors own 98.94% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at SLM

In related news, Director Robert S. Strong sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.25, for a total transaction of $122,625.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 83,130 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,265,292.50. This represents a 5.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on SLM. Barclays lowered their price target on SLM from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $26.00 target price on shares of SLM in a report on Thursday, October 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of SLM from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $26.00 price objective on shares of SLM in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $30.00 target price (up from $27.00) on shares of SLM in a report on Monday, December 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, SLM has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $26.80.

SLM Stock Performance

Shares of SLM stock opened at $26.87 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The firm has a market cap of $5.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 1.21. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $24.62 and its 200-day moving average is $22.54. SLM Co. has a one year low of $18.04 and a one year high of $28.22.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The credit services provider reported ($0.23) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.07 by ($0.30). SLM had a net margin of 22.18% and a return on equity of 35.92%. The firm had revenue of $652.64 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $363.40 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.11 EPS. Equities analysts predict that SLM Co. will post 2.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SLM Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th were issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. This is a boost from SLM’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. SLM’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.12%.

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.