SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) PT Raised to $23.00

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) had its price target hoisted by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $22.00 to $23.00 in a research note published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the credit services provider’s stock.

SLM has been the subject of a number of other reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on SLM from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. TheStreet upgraded SLM from a c+ rating to a b rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on SLM in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. They set a buy rating and a $25.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup upgraded SLM from a neutral rating to a buy rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $14.00 to $23.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price objective on SLM from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, SLM currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $21.32.

SLM Trading Down 0.1 %

SLM stock opened at $21.90 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $20.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $18.30. The company has a market cap of $4.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.84, a P/E/G ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 1.16. SLM has a 52-week low of $12.26 and a 52-week high of $22.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.67.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The credit services provider reported $1.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.09 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $837.72 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $376.43 million. SLM had a return on equity of 45.65% and a net margin of 25.15%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.47 EPS. Analysts predict that SLM will post 2.7 EPS for the current year.

SLM Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 6th will be paid a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 5th. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.01%. SLM’s payout ratio is 13.75%.

SLM declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, January 24th that permits the company to buyback $650.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the credit services provider to purchase up to 14.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Jonathan Boyles sold 94,078 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.72, for a total transaction of $1,949,296.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 52,751 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,093,000.72. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Jonathan Boyles sold 94,078 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.72, for a total transaction of $1,949,296.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 52,751 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,093,000.72. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Donna F. Vieira sold 12,308 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.27, for a total value of $249,483.16. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 126,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,564,155. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.91% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of SLM

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC lifted its position in SLM by 37.0% in the first quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 1,828 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 494 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in SLM by 186.3% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,517,251 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $54,851,000 after buying an additional 1,638,003 shares during the last quarter. Shikiar Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in SLM by 135.7% in the first quarter. Shikiar Asset Management Inc. now owns 176,800 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,852,000 after purchasing an additional 101,800 shares during the period. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in SLM in the first quarter worth $748,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in SLM by 46.8% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 5,903 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $129,000 after purchasing an additional 1,883 shares during the period. 98.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.