Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Boosts Stock Position in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM - Free Report) by 3,800.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,406,384 shares of the credit services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 2,344,691 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned about 1.11% of SLM worth $55,034,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in SLM. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in SLM by 117.5% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 73,140 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $1,594,000 after purchasing an additional 39,519 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in SLM by 77.8% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 64,514 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $1,406,000 after purchasing an additional 28,236 shares during the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp increased its stake in SLM by 50.7% in the second quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 290,636 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $6,042,000 after purchasing an additional 97,832 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in SLM by 3.3% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 816,274 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $17,788,000 after purchasing an additional 26,064 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Shikiar Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in SLM by 19.5% in the second quarter. Shikiar Asset Management Inc. now owns 211,350 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $4,394,000 after purchasing an additional 34,550 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.94% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SLM. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and set a $26.00 target price on shares of SLM in a research report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of SLM from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of SLM from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of SLM from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of SLM from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $24.67.

Insider Transactions at SLM

In other news, Director Robert S. Strong sold 4,500 shares of SLM stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.70, for a total transaction of $102,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 101,093 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,294,811.10. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company's stock.

SLM Price Performance

SLM stock traded down $0.31 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $21.90. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,833,387 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,793,484. SLM Co. has a fifty-two week low of $12.26 and a fifty-two week high of $23.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.66, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.26. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $21.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.81 billion, a PE ratio of 6.94, a P/E/G ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.15.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM - Get Free Report) last released its 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). SLM had a net margin of 24.67% and a return on equity of 41.84%. The business had revenue of $652.64 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $363.40 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.11 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that SLM Co. will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current year.

SLM Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.37%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. This is an increase from SLM's previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. SLM's payout ratio is 13.75%.

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.