Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Has $155.45 Million Stock Holdings in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lessened its stake in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM - Free Report) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,636,146 shares of the credit services provider's stock after selling 99,685 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 2.65% of SLM worth $155,446,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in shares of SLM by 72.6% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 20,700 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $571,000 after buying an additional 8,704 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of SLM in the fourth quarter worth about $552,000. Bridgewater Associates LP raised its position in shares of SLM by 15.8% during the fourth quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 429,251 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $11,839,000 after purchasing an additional 58,524 shares during the period. Guggenheim Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of SLM during the 4th quarter valued at about $388,000. Finally, Portolan Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of SLM by 128.3% in the 4th quarter. Portolan Capital Management LLC now owns 900,519 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $24,836,000 after purchasing an additional 506,082 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.94% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of SLM from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on SLM from $30.00 to $27.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on SLM from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Compass Point lifted their target price on SLM from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $30.73.

SLM Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of SLM stock traded up $0.09 on Wednesday, reaching $28.91. 2,634,339 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,212,422. The company has a market capitalization of $6.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.91, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.37. SLM Co. has a one year low of $19.39 and a one year high of $32.65. The company has a 50-day moving average of $28.29 and a 200 day moving average of $27.25.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The credit services provider reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $374.97 million for 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%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.27 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast 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 will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 5th. SLM's payout ratio is currently 18.71%.

About SLM

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.