Richard Blackley, a director at
SLM Corp (SLM) recently bought 11,702 shares. The buy came to a total cost of $249,378, and increased the director’s stake by 99%.
This marks the first insider buy over the past year. Otherwise, there have been 8 insider sales over the last 12 months. That includes one sale from an EVP valued at over $1.9 million. And the company’s CFO was also a seller of shares.
Overall, SLM insiders own 1% of shares.
The student loan company is up 22% over the past year, about in-line with the overall stock market.
Business has been much stronger than the stock’s performance, as revenues are up 75% and earnings have surged nearly 145%.
Shares of SLM are still inexpensive at less than 8 times forward earnings. Plus, SLM has a hefty 44% profit margin, indicating that business remains strong.
Action to take: Investors may like shares here given their current uptrend. At current prices, SLM also pays a 2.1% dividend yield. The payout could increase over time, given the low payout ratio.
For traders, shares have been trending gradually higher over the past few months. The October $22 calls, last trading for about $1.15, could see mid-double-digit returns from a further rally going forward.
Disclosure: The author of this article has no position in the company mentioned here, but may trade after the next 72 hours. The author receives no compensation from any company mentioned in this article.
