Northern Trust Corp Acquires 226,773 Shares of SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM)

Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM - Free Report) by 9.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,638,913 shares of the credit services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 226,773 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp owned approximately 1.24% of SLM worth $72,781,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Barclays PLC boosted its position in 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 buying an additional 119,796 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of SLM during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,797,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in SLM by 35.3% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 415,607 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $9,596,000 after acquiring an additional 108,463 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in SLM by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 669,263 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $15,306,000 after purchasing an additional 18,470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in SLM by 32.8% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,740 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $186,000 after purchasing an additional 1,663 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.94% of the company's stock.

SLM Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of SLM stock opened at $31.47 on Tuesday. SLM Co. has a 52-week low of $19.39 and a 52-week high of $32.65. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $28.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $27.46. The company has a market capitalization of $6.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.88, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.37, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.32.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The credit services provider reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $374.97 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 last year, the company posted $1.27 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that SLM Co. will post 3.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SLM Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.65%. SLM's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.71%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on SLM. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on SLM from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Barclays upped 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 Tuesday, February 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of SLM from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on SLM from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on SLM from $30.00 to $27.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, SLM presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $30.73.

About SLM

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.

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.