Brave Warrior Advisors LLC Takes Position in SLM Corporation $SLM

Brave Warrior Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of SLM Corporation (NASDAQ:SLM) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 9,455,374 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $277,704,000. SLM comprises approximately 6.4% of Brave Warrior Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Brave Warrior Advisors LLC owned about 4.51% of SLM at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in SLM during the 1st quarter valued at $607,000. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. purchased a new stake in SLM in the first quarter worth $216,000. Informed Momentum Co LLC purchased a new stake in SLM in the first quarter worth $4,190,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in SLM by 24.2% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 207,129 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $6,083,000 after purchasing an additional 40,378 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in SLM by 19.2% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,034 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $236,000 after purchasing an additional 1,294 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.94% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SLM has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded SLM from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $29.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $40.00 price target (up previously from $33.00) on shares of SLM in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on SLM from $33.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Barclays raised their price target on SLM from $38.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating on shares of SLM in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $35.00.

Insider Activity at SLM

In other news, EVP Kerri A. Palmer sold 55,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.21, for a total value of $1,771,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 119,253 shares in the company, valued at $3,841,139.13. The trade was a 31.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

SLM Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SLM opened at $31.28 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.02, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.35. The company has a market cap of $6.52 billion, a PE ratio of 15.72, a P/E/G ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $32.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.92. SLM Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $19.64 and a fifty-two week high of $34.97.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The credit services provider reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by ($0.17). SLM had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 15.46%.The firm had revenue of $403.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $370.26 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.11 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 21.4% compared to the same quarter last year. SLM has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.000-3.100 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that SLM Corporation will post 3.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SLM Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be given a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 4th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. SLM’s payout ratio is 26.13%.

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.