Voya Investment Management LLC Has $78.20 Million Holdings in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM)

Voya Investment Management LLC boosted its position in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM - Free Report) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,835,279 shares of the credit services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 13,892 shares during the quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC owned 1.34% of SLM worth $78,197,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of SLM in the fourth quarter worth about $76,362,000. Pinebridge Investments L.P. increased its stake in SLM by 42.7% during the 4th quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. now owns 78,895 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $2,176,000 after buying an additional 23,603 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of SLM by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 831,008 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $22,920,000 after acquiring an additional 26,902 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in shares of SLM by 112.2% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 39,224 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $1,084,000 after buying an additional 20,738 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its position in shares of SLM by 277.2% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 22,227 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $613,000 after buying an additional 16,334 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.94% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on SLM shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of SLM from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on SLM from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Barclays boosted their price target on SLM from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Compass Point raised their price objective on SLM from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $30.73.

SLM Stock Performance

NASDAQ:SLM traded down $0.24 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $28.58. The stock had a trading volume of 640,704 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,200,205. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.37. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $28.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $27.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.78, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.05. SLM Co. has a 52 week low of $19.39 and a 52 week high of $32.65.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The credit services provider reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.21. SLM had a net margin of 20.73% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The firm had revenue of $374.97 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $359.83 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.27 EPS. SLM's revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that SLM Co. will post 3.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 5th. SLM's payout ratio is 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.