Teacher Retirement System of Texas Has $864,000 Stock Holdings in SLM Corporation (NASDAQ:SLM)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its stake in SLM Corporation (NASDAQ:SLM - Free Report) by 152.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 29,434 shares of the credit services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 17,786 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas' holdings in SLM were worth $864,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of SLM. J.Safra Asset Management Corp bought a new position in shares of SLM in the first quarter worth about $25,000. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in shares of SLM by 37.7% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,714 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 469 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of SLM by 355.4% during the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,899 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $56,000 after buying an additional 1,482 shares during the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co bought a new stake in shares of SLM during the first quarter worth approximately $132,000. Finally, Mariner LLC bought a new stake in shares of SLM during the fourth quarter worth approximately $205,000. 98.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Buying and Selling at SLM

In other news, Director Robert S. Strong sold 3,000 shares of the firm's 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 sale, the director directly owned 35,195 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,096,324.25. This trade represents a 7.85% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.30% of the company's stock.

SLM Price Performance

SLM stock traded down $0.34 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $32.80. 674,516 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,299,776. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $32.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $30.16. SLM Corporation has a twelve month low of $19.39 and a twelve month high of $34.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.86. The company has a market cap of $6.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.09.

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

SLM Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 5th were paid a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.59%. SLM's payout ratio is currently 18.71%.

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.