Vestcor Inc Invests $446,000 in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM)

Vestcor Inc purchased a new position in shares of SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 16,181 shares of the credit services provider's stock, valued at approximately $446,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Private Trust Co. NA raised its position in SLM by 86.4% during the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 971 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new position in shares of SLM in the third quarter worth approximately $31,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in SLM by 32.2% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,849 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in SLM during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $86,000. Finally, Plato Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in SLM during the 4th quarter worth approximately $114,000. 98.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on SLM. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of SLM from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on SLM from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on SLM from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on SLM from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of SLM from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $31.45.

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Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Robert S. Strong sold 40,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

SLM Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of SLM stock traded down $0.17 on Friday, hitting $29.70. The stock had a trading volume of 22,118,144 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,029,864. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.37, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The business has a 50 day moving average of $29.34 and a 200 day moving average of $26.04. SLM Co. has a 12-month low of $19.39 and a 12-month high of $32.65. The stock has a market cap of $6.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.23.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The credit services provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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, analysts expect that SLM Co. will post 3.07 EPS for the current year.

SLM Dividend Announcement

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

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.