California Public Employees Retirement System Cuts Stock Position in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM)

California Public Employees Retirement System decreased its holdings in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) by 15.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 380,673 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 67,123 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in SLM were worth $10,499,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SLM. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in SLM by 32.2% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,849 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA raised its stake in shares of SLM by 86.4% in the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 971 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in SLM by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 33,825 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $933,000 after purchasing an additional 552 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. grew its stake in SLM by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 24,263 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $669,000 after purchasing an additional 729 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Truist Financial Corp grew its stake in SLM by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 9,052 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $250,000 after purchasing an additional 960 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.94% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on SLM from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of SLM from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of SLM from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley raised 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of SLM from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.45.

SLM Stock Performance

Shares of SLM stock opened at $25.54 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $29.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $26.74. 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $19.39 and a 1 year high of $32.65. The firm has a market cap of $5.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.64, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.05.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last released its quarterly 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%. Analysts predict that SLM Co. will post 3.07 earnings per share for the current year.

SLM Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th were paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. SLM’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.62%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other SLM news, Director Robert S. Strong sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.