Today's Financial Stock Winners and Losers

Doral Financial(DRL) gained as the Puerto Rico-based company was upgraded by Cohen Brothers to hold from sell.

Doral said it closed the repurchase and subsequent resale of roughly $608 million of mortgage loans previously sold to Banco Santander Puerto Rico, a wholly owned subsidiary of Santander BanCorp. Doral had agreed to acquire from Banco Santander certain mortgage loans previously sold by Doral to Banco Santander during 2004 and the first quarter of 2005. Most of the mortgage loans purchased from Banco Santander were resold to a third party on May 15 and May 16. The transactions are not expected to have a material impact on the company's results of operations but will have a positive impact on the Doral's regulatory capital ratios. Shares closed up 51 cents, to 7.7%, to $7.11 Friday.

Nasdaq(NDAQ ) gained after the New York-based stock exchange said Friday that it had increased its ownership stake in the London Stock Exchange to 25.1%, giving it the right to block any merger bid by one of its rivals.

British law gives a shareholder who controls more than 25% of a company's stock the right to effectively stop a merger. "We are pleased to have increased our strategic investment in LSE in excess of the important threshold of 25%,'' said Robert Greifeld, Nasdaq's chief executive officer. Ever since the London exchange rejected Nasdaq's $4.2 billion hostile bid in March, Nasdaq has been acquiring big blocks of stock in the LSE. Shares closed up $1.10, or 3.4%, to $33.07.

SLM(SLM), or Sallie Mae, gained after the Reston, Va.-based education finance company announced a second-quarter dividend on its common stock of 25 cents a share, 3 cents more than was paid in the previous quarter. The dividend on the common stock will be paid on June 16 to shareholders of record at the close of business on June 2. Shares gained 87 cents, or 1.6%, to close at $54.50 Friday.

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