Perpetual Ltd Acquires 406,313 Shares of SLM Corporation (NASDAQ:SLM)

Perpetual Ltd raised its holdings in SLM Corporation (NASDAQ:SLM - Free Report) by 172.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 641,554 shares of the credit services provider's stock after buying an additional 406,313 shares during the quarter. Perpetual Ltd owned about 0.30% of SLM worth $18,842,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SLM. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of SLM by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 30,336 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $871,000 after purchasing an additional 1,682 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp lifted its holdings in SLM by 11.9% in 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 during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its position in SLM by 16.7% during the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 51,779 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $1,428,000 after acquiring an additional 7,400 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in SLM during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $354,000. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA grew its holdings in shares of SLM by 86.4% during the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 971 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the period. 98.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Robert S. Strong sold 3,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company's stock.

SLM Stock Performance

Shares of SLM stock opened at $32.95 on Friday. SLM Corporation has a 1 year low of $19.39 and a 1 year high of $34.55. The firm's 50-day moving average is $31.52 and its 200 day moving average is $29.54. The stock has a market cap of $6.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.85, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.10. 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 (NASDAQ:SLM - Get Free Report) last issued its 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. SLM had a net margin of 21.05% and a return on equity of 31.25%. The business had revenue of $374.97 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $359.83 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.27 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that SLM Corporation will post 3.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SLM Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.58%. SLM's dividend payout ratio is 18.71%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SLM has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays lifted their price target on SLM from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped 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 reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $40.00 target price (up from $33.00) on shares of SLM in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $32.30.

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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