Boston Partners Increases Position in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM)

Boston Partners lifted its holdings in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM - Free Report) by 3.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 12,246,797 shares of the credit services provider's stock after buying an additional 456,415 shares during the quarter. Boston Partners owned approximately 5.77% of SLM worth $338,889,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp increased its holdings in SLM by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,923,576 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $158,342,000 after purchasing an additional 43,927 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings 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 worth $108,936,000 after purchasing an additional 331,490 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in SLM by 0.9% during 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 purchasing an additional 15,252 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in SLM during the 4th quarter worth $20,603,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in SLM by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 669,263 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $15,306,000 after purchasing an additional 18,470 shares during the period. 98.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on SLM. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on SLM from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Compass Point increased their target price on SLM from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on SLM from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on SLM from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on SLM from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, SLM currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $31.45.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other SLM news, Director Robert S. Strong sold 40,000 shares of SLM stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.57, for a total transaction of $1,142,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 43,163 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,233,166.91. This trade represents a 48.10 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

SLM Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of SLM stock traded down $0.17 during trading on Friday, reaching $29.70. The company's stock had a trading volume of 22,118,169 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,023,602. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.37. The company has a market cap of $6.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.21, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.23. SLM Co. has a 1-year low of $19.39 and a 1-year high of $32.65. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $26.09.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The credit services provider reported $0.50 EPS 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%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that SLM Co. will post 3.07 earnings per share for the current year.

SLM Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were given a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.75%. SLM's dividend payout ratio is currently 19.62%.

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.