Redwood Investment Management LLC Grows Holdings in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM)

Redwood Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 69,642 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,784 shares during the period. Redwood Investment Management LLC’s holdings in SLM were worth $1,571,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of SLM. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in SLM by 3,800.6% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,406,384 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $55,034,000 after buying an additional 2,344,691 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in SLM by 107.1% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,366,642 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $49,202,000 after buying an additional 1,224,015 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in SLM by 253.8% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,290,997 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $26,840,000 after buying an additional 926,120 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in SLM by 23.9% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,453,521 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $92,589,000 after buying an additional 859,625 shares during the period. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its stake in SLM by 69.1% in the 2nd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,002,825 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $20,849,000 after buying an additional 409,624 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.94% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SLM has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of SLM from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $26.00 price target on shares of SLM in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of SLM in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. They set a “buy” rating and a $27.00 price target on the stock. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $26.00 price target on shares of SLM in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of SLM from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $25.45.

SLM Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SLM opened at $26.27 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $5.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.35, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.21. SLM Co. has a 52 week low of $15.85 and a 52 week high of $28.22. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $23.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $22.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.27 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) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.07 by ($0.30). The company had revenue of $652.64 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $363.40 million. SLM had a return on equity of 35.92% and a net margin of 22.18%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.11 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that SLM Co. will post 2.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SLM Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be given a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.98%. This is an increase from SLM’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. SLM’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Robert S. Strong sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.25, for a total value of $122,625.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 83,130 shares in the company, valued at $2,265,292.50. This represents a 5.14 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.