QRG Capital Management Inc. Takes $191,000 Position in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM)

QRG Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 10,002 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $191,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Goldentree Asset Management LP boosted its position in SLM by 9.1% in the 3rd quarter. Goldentree Asset Management LP now owns 4,282,732 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $58,331,000 after buying an additional 357,235 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of SLM by 967.5% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,923,491 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $39,818,000 after purchasing an additional 2,649,626 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in SLM by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,570,065 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $35,004,000 after buying an additional 209,632 shares during the last quarter. Polaris Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of SLM by 34.1% during the 4th quarter. Polaris Capital Management LLC now owns 2,445,400 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $46,756,000 after acquiring an additional 622,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of SLM by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,726,549 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $33,012,000 after buying an additional 88,204 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.94% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on SLM. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $28.00 price target on shares of SLM in a research note on Thursday, May 16th. TheStreet raised SLM from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on SLM from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on SLM from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of SLM from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, SLM has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.32.

SLM Trading Up 1.7 %

NASDAQ SLM opened at $21.02 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.57, a P/E/G ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 1.17. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $21.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.27. SLM Co. has a 52-week low of $12.26 and a 52-week high of $22.74. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.67.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The credit services provider reported $1.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.09 by $0.18. SLM had a net margin of 25.15% and a return on equity of 45.65%. The firm had revenue of $837.72 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $376.43 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.47 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that SLM Co. will post 2.75 EPS for the current year.

SLM Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 6th. SLM’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.75%.

SLM declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, January 24th that permits the company to buyback $650.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the credit services provider to reacquire up to 14.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Jonathan Boyles sold 94,078 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.72, for a total value of $1,949,296.16. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 52,751 shares in the company, valued at $1,093,000.72. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

SLM Company 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.