Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in SLM Corporation $SLM

Key Points

• Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in SLM Corporation by 31.1%, selling over 1.1 million shares, bringing its total ownership to 2.47 million shares valued at approximately $72.5 million.
• SLM recently reported earnings per share of $0.32, falling short of analysts' expectations of $0.49, with a revenue of $403.6 million for the quarter.
• SLM declared a quarterly dividend of $0.13 per share, representing a 1.6% yield based on an annualized basis, with the next payment scheduled for September 15th.

Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC reduced its position in SLM Corporation (NASDAQ:SLM - Free Report) by 31.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,468,256 shares of the credit services provider's stock after selling 1,115,757 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC owned 1.18% of SLM worth $72,493,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of SLM in the first quarter worth about $607,000. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. purchased a new position in SLM in the first quarter worth about $216,000. Informed Momentum Co LLC purchased a new position in SLM in the first quarter worth about $4,190,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in SLM by 24.2% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 207,129 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $6,083,000 after acquiring an additional 40,378 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in SLM by 19.2% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,034 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $236,000 after acquiring an additional 1,294 shares in the last quarter. 98.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on SLM. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on SLM in a research report on Monday. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $38.00 price target for the company. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of SLM from $33.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of SLM in a research report on Monday, July 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of SLM from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $29.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $40.00 price objective (up from $33.00) on shares of SLM in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, SLM has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $35.00.

Insider Activity at SLM

In other SLM news, EVP Kerri A. Palmer sold 55,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.21, for a total transaction of $1,771,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 119,253 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,841,139.13. This represents a 31.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.30% of the company's stock.

SLM Stock Down 0.6%

NASDAQ SLM traded down $0.21 during trading on Thursday, reaching $31.51. 498,840 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,527,671. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.02, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.35. The firm has a market cap of $6.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.13. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $32.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $30.87. SLM Corporation has a 12-month low of $19.64 and a 12-month high of $34.97.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The credit services provider reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.49 by ($0.17). The business had revenue of $403.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $370.26 million. SLM had a net margin of 15.46% and a return on equity of 21.93%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 21.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.11 EPS. SLM has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.000-3.100 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that SLM Corporation will post 3.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SLM Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be given a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 4th. SLM's dividend payout ratio is presently 26.13%.

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.