Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. Buys New Position in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM)

Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. bought a new stake in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 9,220 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $211,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in SLM by 1,373.3% in the 1st quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,326 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 1,236 shares during the last quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in SLM in the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in SLM by 358.7% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,399 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 1,094 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in SLM in the 2nd quarter valued at about $60,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in SLM by 378.1% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 3,050 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $66,000 after acquiring an additional 2,412 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.94% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SLM has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of SLM from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of SLM from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $26.00 price objective on shares of SLM in a research note on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $26.00 target price on shares of SLM in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on SLM from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, SLM presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $25.45.

SLM Price Performance

Shares of SLM stock opened at $21.90 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21. SLM Co. has a 12 month low of $12.26 and a 12 month high of $23.95. The firm has a market cap of $4.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.63, a PEG ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.15. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $21.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.50.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The credit services provider reported ($0.23) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.07 by ($0.30). SLM had a net margin of 22.18% and a return on equity of 35.92%. The business had revenue of $652.64 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $363.40 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.11 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that SLM Co. will post 2.75 EPS for the current year.

SLM Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.37%. This is a boost from SLM’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. SLM’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.33%.

Insider Transactions at SLM

In related news, Director Robert S. Strong sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.70, for a total value of $102,150.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 101,093 shares in the company, valued at $2,294,811.10. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

SLM Company 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.