Bridgewater Associates LP Purchases 18,426 Shares of SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM)

Bridgewater Associates LP raised its position in shares of SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) by 5.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 370,727 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,426 shares during the period. Bridgewater Associates LP owned about 0.17% of SLM worth $8,479,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of SLM by 9.9% in the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 11,017 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $240,000 after purchasing an additional 990 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in SLM by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 816,274 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $17,788,000 after acquiring an additional 26,064 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in shares of SLM by 114.6% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 228,239 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $4,971,000 after acquiring an additional 121,886 shares during the period. Invst LLC purchased a new position in shares of SLM in the 1st quarter valued at $807,000. Finally, Boston Partners lifted its stake in shares of SLM by 5.7% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 12,461,356 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $271,626,000 after purchasing an additional 674,424 shares during the last quarter. 98.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SLM has been the topic of several analyst reports. Bank of America assumed coverage on SLM in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $27.00 target price on the stock. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of SLM from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $26.00 target price on shares of SLM in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of SLM from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $26.00 price objective on shares of SLM in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $25.45.

SLM Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:SLM opened at $27.20 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $23.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $21.92. The stock has a market cap of $5.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.48, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.16. SLM Co. has a 52-week low of $14.03 and a 52-week high of $28.22. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The credit services provider reported ($0.23) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.07 by ($0.30). The business had revenue of $652.64 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $363.40 million. SLM had a net margin of 22.18% and a return on equity of 35.92%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.11 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that SLM Co. will post 2.73 EPS for the current year.

SLM Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be issued a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. This is a boost from SLM’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. SLM’s payout ratio is 15.33%.

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.