Vestcor Inc Buys Shares of 16,181 SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM)

Vestcor Inc acquired a new position in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 16,181 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $446,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of SLM by 0.6% in 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. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of SLM during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $623,000. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new position in SLM during the third quarter valued at $3,250,000. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP raised its stake in shares of SLM by 62.9% during the third quarter. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP now owns 177,840 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $4,067,000 after acquiring an additional 68,642 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its stake in shares of SLM by 103.4% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 135,014 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,712,000 after acquiring an additional 68,632 shares during the last quarter. 98.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on SLM from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of SLM from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of SLM from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of SLM from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on SLM from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, SLM has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.45.

Insider Transactions at SLM

In related news, Director Robert S. Strong sold 40,000 shares of SLM 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 43,163 shares in the company, valued at $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 available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

SLM Stock Performance

Shares of SLM stock opened at $29.26 on Tuesday. SLM Co. has a fifty-two week low of $19.39 and a fifty-two week high of $32.65. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $29.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $25.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.37, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.32.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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%. Equities research analysts predict that SLM Co. will post 3.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SLM Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. SLM’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.62%.

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.