SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $29.82.

SLM has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on SLM from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of SLM from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Compass Point raised their price target on shares of SLM from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of SLM from $26.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $26.00 target price on shares of SLM in a research report on Thursday, October 24th.

SLM Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SLM opened at $29.01 on Friday. SLM has a 52 week low of $18.84 and a 52 week high of $31.49. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21. The firm has a market cap of $6.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.11, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.21. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $27.27 and its 200 day moving average price is $23.91.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The credit services provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.06). SLM had a net margin of 22.18% and a return on equity of 35.92%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that SLM will post 2.72 earnings per share for the current year.

SLM Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be given a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.79%. SLM’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Robert S. Strong sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.25, for a total transaction of $122,625.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 83,130 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,265,292.50. The trade was a 5.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SLM

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in SLM by 3,800.6% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,406,384 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $55,034,000 after buying an additional 2,344,691 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in shares of SLM by 107.1% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,366,642 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $49,202,000 after acquiring an additional 1,224,015 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of SLM by 253.8% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,290,997 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $26,840,000 after purchasing an additional 926,120 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in SLM by 7.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,762,328 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $108,936,000 after purchasing an additional 331,490 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AXA S.A. purchased a new position in SLM during the second quarter worth about $5,046,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.94% of the company’s stock.

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.