New Age Alpha Advisors LLC Invests $536,000 in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM)

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 19,437 shares of the credit services provider's stock, valued at approximately $536,000.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of SLM in the fourth quarter worth approximately $68,603,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in SLM by 12.7% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 754,457 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $20,808,000 after purchasing an additional 85,194 shares during the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd grew its holdings in shares of SLM by 40.2% during the fourth quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 30,205 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $833,000 after buying an additional 8,654 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp raised its position in shares of SLM by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 223,692 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $6,169,000 after buying an additional 18,754 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of SLM by 26.4% in the fourth quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 107,126 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $2,955,000 after buying an additional 22,388 shares in the last quarter. 98.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of SLM from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on SLM from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Barclays lifted their price objective on SLM from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Compass Point upped their target price on SLM from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on SLM from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $31.45.

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SLM Trading Down 7.1 %

Shares of SLM traded down $1.94 during trading on Friday, reaching $25.43. 2,233,815 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,102,320. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $26.64. The stock has a market cap of $5.35 billion, a PE ratio of 9.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.05. SLM Co. has a twelve month low of $19.39 and a twelve month high of $32.65. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.37.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The credit services provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.56 by ($0.06). SLM had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 20.73%. On average, analysts anticipate that SLM Co. will post 3.07 earnings per share for the current year.

SLM Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th were paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. SLM's payout ratio is 19.62%.

Insider Activity at SLM

In other SLM news, Director Robert S. Strong sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.57, for a total transaction 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. This represents a 48.10 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.