Axa S.A. Decreases Stock Holdings in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM)

AXA S.A. cut its holdings in shares of SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM - Free Report) by 25.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 191,854 shares of the credit services provider's stock after selling 64,376 shares during the period. AXA S.A. owned about 0.09% of SLM worth $5,291,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV bought a new stake in SLM during the fourth quarter valued at $235,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of SLM by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,638,913 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $72,781,000 after purchasing an additional 226,773 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Securities LLC acquired a new stake in SLM during the fourth quarter worth approximately $498,000. Voya Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in SLM by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 2,835,279 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $78,197,000 after purchasing an additional 13,892 shares in the last quarter. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in SLM in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $76,362,000. 98.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on SLM. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of SLM from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective 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. Barclays raised their target price on SLM from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $33.00 price target (up from $31.00) on shares of SLM in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on SLM from $30.00 to $27.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Two 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 currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $30.73.

SLM Stock Performance

SLM traded up $0.84 on Monday, hitting $33.02. The company's stock had a trading volume of 417,217 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,951,740. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $28.49 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.71. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.37. SLM Co. has a 12 month low of $19.39 and a 12 month high of $33.85. The firm has a market cap of $6.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.05.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The credit services provider reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $374.97 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $359.83 million. SLM had a net margin of 20.73% and a return on equity of 31.66%. SLM's revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.27 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that SLM Co. will post 3.07 EPS for the current year.

SLM Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 5th will be given a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.58%. SLM's payout ratio is presently 18.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Robert S. Strong sold 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.15, for a total transaction of $93,450.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 35,195 shares in the company, valued at $1,096,324.25. The trade was a 7.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company's stock.

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.