Manning & Napier Inc., an investment firm headquartered in New York, sold 9,260,312 shares of SLM Corp. (SLM, Financial) for an average price of $8.98 per share in the fourth quarter.
It now owns 10,130 shares of the company. Since the transaction, SLM’s stock has soared gaining an estimated 32%.
SLM has a market cap of $5.08 billion, a price-earnings (P/E) ratio of 22.34, an enterprise value of $5.89 billion, a price-book (P/B) ratio of 2.84 and a price-sales (P/S) ratio of 5.34.
SLM (Sallie Mae) is a private bank engaged in saving, planning and paying for education. The company was formed in 1972 and offers education loan options for undergraduates, graduate students and professional students as well as families with children in private K-12.
Salle Mae’s mission is to help American students and families make the dream of higher education a reality.
According to GuruFocus, SLM has a 5 out of 10 financial strength rating with a cash-debt ratio of 0.89 and an equity-asset ratio of 0.13. The Piotroski F-Score of 1 indicates the company’s financial situation is weak.
SLM has a 4 out of 10 profitability and growth rating with an operating margin of 43.16%, a net margin of 26.07%, a return on equity (ROE) of 10.37%, three-year revenue growth of 9.40% and three-year EBITDA growth of 0.40%.
GuruFocus has detected two severe warning signs that may have influenced Manning & Napier’s decision.
- The company’s Piotroski F-Score is 1 indicating that SLM is weak.
- The company’s revenue per share growth rate was -10.80% per year over the previous five years.
Manning & Napier purchased its initial stake in SLM during the third quarter of 2014. Since then it has lost an estimated -21% with its investment in the company.
Below is a Peter Lynch chart that shows SLM is trading above its intrinsic value.
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