Tidal Investments LLC Boosts Stock Position in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM)

Tidal Investments LLC raised its position in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM - Free Report) by 797.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 704,971 shares of the credit services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 626,412 shares during the quarter. Tidal Investments LLC owned approximately 0.33% of SLM worth $19,443,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of SLM. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of SLM by 77.8% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 273,785 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $6,261,000 after purchasing an additional 119,796 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new position in SLM in the 4th quarter valued at about $202,000. Perpetual Ltd bought a new stake in shares of SLM during the fourth quarter worth approximately $6,488,000. Dakota Wealth Management acquired a new stake in SLM during the 4th quarter worth approximately $262,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in SLM by 32.2% during the 4th 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 during the period. Institutional investors own 98.94% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Compass Point increased their target price on SLM from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of SLM from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on SLM from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Barclays raised their target price on SLM from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on SLM from $30.00 to $27.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, SLM currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $31.82.

SLM Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ SLM traded up $0.02 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $33.67. The stock had a trading volume of 874,317 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,247,538. SLM Co. has a twelve month low of $19.39 and a twelve month high of $33.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.37, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.32. The company's 50 day moving average price is $29.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.35. The firm has a market cap of $7.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.05.

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 20.73% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The business had revenue of $374.97 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $359.83 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.27 earnings per share. SLM's revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that SLM Co. will post 3.07 EPS for the current year.

SLM Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 5th will be paid 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 of this dividend is Thursday, June 5th. SLM's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Robert S. Strong sold 3,000 shares of SLM stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The shares were 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 directly owns 35,195 shares in the company, valued at $1,096,324.25. This trade 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 this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.20% 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.