Meritage Portfolio Management Invests $479,000 in SLM Corporation (NASDAQ:SLM)

Meritage Portfolio Management acquired a new stake in SLM Corporation (NASDAQ:SLM - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 16,316 shares of the credit services provider's stock, valued at approximately $479,000.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Truist Financial Corp lifted its holdings in SLM by 11.9% during the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 9,052 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $250,000 after purchasing an additional 960 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of SLM in the fourth quarter worth about $354,000. Private Trust Co. NA raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 450 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its stake in shares of SLM by 489.7% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 4,476 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $123,000 after buying an additional 3,717 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in SLM by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 68,191 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $1,881,000 after buying an additional 1,265 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.94% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on SLM shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of SLM from $30.00 to $27.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $40.00 price target (up from $33.00) on shares of SLM in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on SLM from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on SLM from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $32.30.

SLM Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of SLM stock opened at $33.87 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.86, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.34. SLM Corporation has a 1 year low of $19.39 and a 1 year high of $34.55. The firm has a market cap of $7.11 billion, a PE ratio of 12.18, a PEG ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $32.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $29.76.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The credit services provider reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $374.97 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $359.83 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.27 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that SLM Corporation will post 3.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SLM Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 5th were given a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.54%. SLM's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling at SLM

In other SLM news, Director Robert S. Strong sold 3,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.15, for a total value of $93,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 35,195 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,096,324.25. This represents a 7.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.30% 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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding SLM? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for SLM Corporation (NASDAQ:SLM - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.