Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Has $20.44 Million Stake in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. cut its stake in shares of SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM - Free Report) by 69.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 741,047 shares of the credit services provider's stock after selling 1,665,337 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned approximately 0.35% of SLM worth $20,438,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in SLM by 107.1% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,366,642 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $49,202,000 after purchasing an additional 1,224,015 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in SLM by 253.8% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,290,997 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $26,840,000 after acquiring an additional 926,120 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in SLM by 7.5% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. AXA S.A. bought a new position in shares of SLM in the second quarter worth $5,046,000. Finally, Vest Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of SLM by 16.9% during the third 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 currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SLM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of SLM from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on SLM from $26.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a "market perform" rating and issued a $30.00 price target (up from $27.00) on shares of SLM in a report on Monday, December 9th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of SLM from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $26.00 target price on shares of SLM in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $27.90.

SLM Stock Performance

NASDAQ SLM traded down $0.15 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $27.98. The company had a trading volume of 1,926,352 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,608,089. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $26.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $23.61. The stock has a market cap of $5.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.75, a P/E/G ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21. SLM Co. has a fifty-two week low of $18.25 and a fifty-two week high of $28.91.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The credit services provider reported ($0.23) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.07 by ($0.30). The firm had revenue of $652.64 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $363.40 million. SLM had a net margin of 22.18% and a return on equity of 35.92%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.11 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that SLM Co. will post 2.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SLM Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were paid a $0.13 dividend. This is a positive change from SLM's previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.86%. SLM's dividend payout ratio is presently 18.12%.

Insider Transactions at SLM

In other news, Director Robert S. Strong sold 4,500 shares of SLM stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.25, for a total transaction of $122,625.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 83,130 shares in the company, valued at $2,265,292.50. The trade was a 5.14 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company's stock.

SLM Company 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.