SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) Shares Sold by Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC

Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in shares of SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM - Free Report) by 39.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 31,190 shares of the credit services provider's stock after selling 20,177 shares during the period. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in SLM were worth $860,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of SLM by 3,800.6% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,406,384 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $55,034,000 after acquiring an additional 2,344,691 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased 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 purchasing an additional 331,490 shares in the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd purchased a new position in shares of SLM in the fourth quarter worth $6,488,000. Vest Financial LLC lifted its stake 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 worth $29,529,000 after buying an additional 186,522 shares during the period. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of SLM during the third quarter valued at $3,250,000. 98.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on SLM shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of SLM from $26.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays cut their price target on SLM from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on SLM from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on SLM from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on SLM from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $29.82.

SLM Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SLM traded up $1.41 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $31.43. 2,796,717 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,553,558. 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 firm has a market cap of $6.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.22. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $28.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $24.57. SLM Co. has a 1-year low of $19.39 and a 1-year high of $31.49.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM - Get Free Report) last announced 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 net margin of 20.73% and a return on equity of 31.66%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that SLM Co. will post 3.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SLM Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. SLM's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other SLM news, Director Robert S. Strong sold 40,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.57, for a total value of $1,142,800.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 43,163 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,233,166.91. This represents a 48.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.20% of the company's stock.

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.