Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI Sells 3,400 Shares of SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM)

Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI lessened its stake in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) by 1.1% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 303,424 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 3,400 shares during the period. Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI’s holdings in SLM were worth $8,912,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Private Trust Co. NA grew its stake in SLM by 86.4% in the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 971 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in SLM by 37.7% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,714 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 469 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in SLM by 355.4% in the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,899 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 1,482 shares during the period. Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new position in SLM in the fourth quarter valued at about $114,000. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its stake in SLM by 489.7% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 4,476 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $123,000 after acquiring an additional 3,717 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.94% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robert S. Strong sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.15, for a total value of $93,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 35,195 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,096,324.25. This trade represents a 7.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on SLM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on SLM from $30.00 to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $40.00 price objective (up from $33.00) on shares of SLM in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Barclays upped their price objective on SLM from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on SLM from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.30.

SLM Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SLM opened at $31.82 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $30.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $29.28. SLM Co. has a 52 week low of $19.39 and a 52 week high of $34.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.37, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.68 billion, a PE ratio of 12.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.10.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The credit services provider reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.21. SLM had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 20.73%. The firm had revenue of $374.97 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $359.83 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.27 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that SLM Co. will post 3.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SLM Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 5th were given a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.63%. SLM’s payout ratio is 18.71%.

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.