Sapient Capital LLC Acquires New Holdings in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM)

Sapient Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 93,356 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,785,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of SLM in the fourth quarter worth $7,133,000. Natixis Advisors L.P. grew its stake in shares of SLM by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 487,212 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $9,315,000 after purchasing an additional 20,809 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of SLM by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 67,558 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,292,000 after purchasing an additional 2,055 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its stake in shares of SLM by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 283,392 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $5,418,000 after purchasing an additional 1,105 shares during the period. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of SLM by 46.4% in the fourth quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 2,330 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 739 shares during the last quarter. 98.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Jonathan Boyles sold 94,078 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 owns 52,751 shares in the company, valued at $1,093,000.72. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.91% of the company’s stock.

SLM Price Performance

SLM traded up $0.53 during trading on Friday, hitting $22.01. 1,211,396 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,376,093. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.67. The company has a market cap of $4.84 billion, a PE ratio of 6.88, a P/E/G ratio of 0.43 and a beta of 1.17. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $21.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $18.52. SLM Co. has a 1 year low of $12.26 and a 1 year high of $22.37.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The credit services provider reported $1.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.09 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $837.72 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $376.43 million. SLM had a return on equity of 45.65% and a net margin of 25.15%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.47 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that SLM Co. will post 2.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SLM announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, January 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $650.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the credit services provider to purchase up to 14.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

SLM Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 5th. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.00%. SLM’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SLM has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of SLM from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. TheStreet raised SLM from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Citigroup raised SLM from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $14.00 to $23.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on SLM from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price objective on SLM from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.32.

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.