Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. Buys Shares of 9,788 SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM)

Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. bought a new stake in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 9,788 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $224,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in SLM by 4.8% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 11,594 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $265,000 after acquiring an additional 526 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of SLM by 13.3% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,077 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $116,000 after purchasing an additional 594 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning boosted its stake in shares of SLM by 5.3% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 18,708 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $428,000 after purchasing an additional 942 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of SLM by 9.9% during 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 purchasing an additional 990 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in shares of SLM by 12.3% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 9,368 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $214,000 after purchasing an additional 1,029 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.94% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on SLM from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Barclays cut their price target on SLM from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $26.00 price objective on shares of SLM in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $26.00 price objective on shares of SLM in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on SLM in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $27.00 price objective on the stock. 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 stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $25.45.

SLM Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of SLM stock opened at $27.88 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $5.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.71, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.16. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $23.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $21.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.29. SLM Co. has a fifty-two week low of $14.03 and a fifty-two week high of $28.22.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The credit services provider reported ($0.23) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by ($0.30). The business had revenue of $652.64 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $363.40 million. SLM had a return on equity of 35.92% and a net margin of 22.18%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.11 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that SLM Co. will post 2.73 earnings per share for the current year.

SLM Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.87%. SLM’s payout ratio is currently 15.33%.

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.