Nomura Holdings Inc. Acquires New Shares in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM)

Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 28,174 shares of the credit services provider's stock, valued at approximately $777,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in SLM by 32.2% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,849 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA grew its position in SLM by 86.4% during the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 971 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. grew its position in SLM by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 24,263 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $669,000 after buying an additional 729 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp grew its position in SLM by 11.9% during the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 9,052 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $250,000 after buying an additional 960 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. grew its position in SLM by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. now owns 11,023 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $304,000 after buying an additional 1,023 shares in the last quarter. 98.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on SLM shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on SLM from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $33.00 price objective (up from $31.00) on shares of SLM in a report on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on SLM from $30.00 to $27.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Compass Point upped their price objective on SLM from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, 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 report on Friday, January 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $31.18.

SLM Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of SLM stock opened at $33.80 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.09 billion, a PE ratio of 12.75, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.05. SLM Co. has a 1-year low of $19.39 and a 1-year high of $33.94. The business has a 50-day moving average of $29.05 and a 200 day moving average of $28.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.37, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 1.27.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $374.97 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $359.83 million. SLM had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 20.73%. SLM's quarterly revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.27 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 5th will be given a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 5th. SLM's payout ratio is 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 transaction of $93,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 35,195 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,096,324.25. This represents a 7.85% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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