Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC Sells 21,346 Shares of SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM)

Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) by 29.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 51,367 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 21,346 shares during the quarter. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in SLM were worth $1,175,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in SLM by 4.8% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 11,594 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $265,000 after purchasing an additional 526 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of SLM by 13.3% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,077 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $116,000 after buying an additional 594 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of SLM by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 21,959 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $478,000 after acquiring an additional 664 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning grew its position in SLM by 5.3% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 18,708 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $428,000 after acquiring an additional 942 shares in the last quarter. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its stake in SLM by 9.9% in the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 11,017 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $240,000 after acquiring an additional 990 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.94% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on SLM from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Bank of America began coverage on SLM in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $27.00 target price for the company. Barclays decreased their price target 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. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $26.00 price objective on shares of SLM in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of SLM from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $25.45.

SLM Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:SLM opened at $24.47 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21. The company has a market cap of $5.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.16. SLM Co. has a 12 month low of $13.93 and a 12 month high of $24.59. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $22.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $21.69.

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 return on equity of 35.92% and a net margin of 22.18%. The business had revenue of $652.64 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $363.40 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.11 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that SLM Co. will post 2.73 EPS for the current year.

SLM Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be issued a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. This is a positive change from SLM’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.13%. SLM’s dividend payout ratio is 15.33%.

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.