T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. Makes New $76.36 Million Investment in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM)

T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 2,768,741 shares of the credit services provider's stock, valued at approximately $76,362,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. owned 1.30% of SLM as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SLM. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of SLM by 77.8% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 273,785 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $6,261,000 after acquiring an additional 119,796 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of SLM during the third quarter worth approximately $1,797,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in SLM by 35.3% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 415,607 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $9,596,000 after buying an additional 108,463 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in SLM by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 669,263 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $15,306,000 after acquiring an additional 18,470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in SLM by 32.8% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,740 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $186,000 after acquiring an additional 1,663 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.94% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SLM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $33.00 price objective (up previously from $31.00) on shares of SLM in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of SLM from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an "overweight" 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 report on Friday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on SLM from $30.00 to $27.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Compass Point raised their target price on SLM from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, SLM presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $30.73.

SLM Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of SLM stock traded up $0.46 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $28.21. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,284,235 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,199,746. 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 Co. has a 1-year low of $19.39 and a 1-year high of $32.65. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $28.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $27.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.65, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.05.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The credit services provider reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $374.97 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $359.83 million. SLM had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 20.73%. SLM's quarterly revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.27 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that SLM Co. will post 3.07 earnings per share for the current year.

SLM Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 5th will be issued a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.84%. SLM's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.71%.

Insider Activity at SLM

In other SLM news, Director Robert S. Strong sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 43,163 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,233,166.91. This represents a 48.10 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at 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.