Cerity Partners LLC Acquires 14,531 Shares of SLM Corporation (NASDAQ:SLM)

Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in SLM Corporation (NASDAQ:SLM - Free Report) by 21.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 82,654 shares of the credit services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 14,531 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC's holdings in SLM were worth $2,428,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new position in shares of SLM in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in SLM by 37.7% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,714 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 469 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in shares of SLM by 355.4% in the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,899 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 1,482 shares during the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co acquired a new position in SLM in the first quarter valued at $132,000. Finally, Mariner LLC acquired a new position in SLM in the fourth quarter valued at $205,000. Institutional investors own 98.94% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SLM. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of SLM from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $40.00 price target (up from $33.00) on shares of SLM in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Barclays raised 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 Friday, May 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of SLM in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of SLM from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $29.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Friday, July 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $33.40.

SLM Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SLM opened at $32.83 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.86. SLM Corporation has a 12 month low of $19.39 and a 12 month high of $34.97. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $32.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.21. The stock has a market cap of $6.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.81, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.09.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The credit services provider reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.21. SLM had a net margin of 21.05% and a return on equity of 31.25%. The company had revenue of $374.97 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $359.83 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.27 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that SLM Corporation 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, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 5th were paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.58%. SLM's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.71%.

Insider Transactions at SLM

In other SLM news, Director Robert S. Strong sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.15, for a total value of $93,450.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 35,195 shares in the company, valued at $1,096,324.25. This represents a 7.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.

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