State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Purchases 1,668 Shares of SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D boosted its position in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) by 1.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 92,216 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,668 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in SLM were worth $2,109,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in shares of SLM by 5.7% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 12,461,356 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $271,626,000 after acquiring an additional 674,424 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of SLM by 2.1% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,687,920 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $118,248,000 after buying an additional 119,342 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake 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 buying an additional 859,625 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in SLM by 3,800.6% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,406,384 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $55,034,000 after buying an additional 2,344,691 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,224,015 shares in the last quarter. 98.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on SLM. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of SLM from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $26.00 price target on shares of SLM in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of SLM from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on SLM from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on SLM from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $25.45.

SLM Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:SLM opened at $24.02 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $22.38 and a 200-day moving average price of $21.67. The company has a market cap of $5.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.16. 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 Co. has a 12 month low of $13.93 and a 12 month high of $24.59.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last posted its earnings results 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). SLM had a return on equity of 35.92% and a net margin of 22.18%. The company had revenue of $652.64 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $363.40 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.11 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that SLM Co. will post 2.73 EPS for the current year.

SLM Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. This is an increase from SLM’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. 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 2.16%. SLM’s dividend payout ratio is 18.12%.

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.