Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Acquires 2,344,691 Shares of SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) by 3,800.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,406,384 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,344,691 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned 1.11% of SLM worth $55,034,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SLM. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of SLM by 107.1% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,366,642 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $49,202,000 after acquiring an additional 1,224,015 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in SLM by 253.8% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,290,997 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $26,840,000 after purchasing an additional 926,120 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in SLM by 23.9% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,453,521 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $92,589,000 after purchasing an additional 859,625 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its stake in shares of SLM by 5.7% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 12,461,356 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $271,626,000 after buying an additional 674,424 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 worth $20,849,000 after buying an additional 409,624 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.94% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SLM has been the subject of several analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on SLM from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $26.00 price target on shares of SLM in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of SLM from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $26.00 target price on shares of SLM in a report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of SLM from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, SLM currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $24.67.

Insider Activity at SLM

In other SLM news, Director Robert S. Strong sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.70, for a total transaction of $102,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 101,093 shares in the company, valued at $2,294,811.10. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

SLM Trading Down 2.6 %

SLM opened at $22.21 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.66. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $21.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $21.50. The company has a market capitalization of $4.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.94, a PEG ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.15. SLM Co. has a 52 week low of $12.26 and a 52 week high of $23.95.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last released 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). SLM had a net margin of 24.67% and a return on equity of 41.84%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.11 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that SLM Co. will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current year.

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.