SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) Short Interest Down 18.3% in July

SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) was the target of a large drop in short interest in July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,730,000 shares, a drop of 18.3% from the June 30th total of 10,690,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,680,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.2 days. Currently, 4.0% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SLM has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on SLM from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on SLM from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of SLM from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of SLM from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of SLM from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $24.00.

SLM Stock Performance

Shares of SLM stock traded up $0.24 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $22.80. 1,836,933 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,940,671. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.66, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.96 billion, a PE ratio of 7.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 1.17. SLM has a 12 month low of $12.26 and a 12 month high of $23.95. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $21.31 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $20.85.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The credit services provider reported $1.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.32. SLM had a return on equity of 41.84% and a net margin of 24.67%. The business had revenue of $783.28 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $368.97 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.10 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that SLM will post 2.83 EPS for the current year.

SLM Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 5th. SLM’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.75%.

Institutional Trading of SLM

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC grew its position in shares of SLM by 37.0% during the first quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 1,828 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 494 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in SLM by 7.7% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 7,891 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $151,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in SLM by 81.4% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,328 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 596 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of SLM by 3.1% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 21,959 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $478,000 after buying an additional 664 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of SLM by 46.4% in the fourth quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 2,330 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 739 shares in the last quarter. 98.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

SLM Company Profile

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.