SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) Price Target Raised to $38.00

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) had its price objective boosted by Barclays from $34.00 to $38.00 in a research note released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the credit services provider’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $26.00 price objective on shares of SLM in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on SLM from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on SLM from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on SLM from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on SLM from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $30.91.

SLM Trading Down 1.5 %

NASDAQ:SLM opened at $32.03 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $28.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $24.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.37. SLM has a 1-year low of $19.39 and a 1-year high of $32.65.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The credit services provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.06). SLM had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 20.73%. Sell-side analysts forecast that SLM will post 3.07 earnings per share for the current year.

SLM Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.62%. SLM’s payout ratio is presently 19.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other SLM news, Director Robert S. Strong sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.57, for a total value of $1,142,800.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 43,163 shares in the company, valued at $1,233,166.91. This represents a 48.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SLM

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in SLM. Boston Partners grew its position in SLM by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 12,246,797 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $338,889,000 after buying an additional 456,415 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in SLM by 39.0% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,529,496 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $207,664,000 after buying an additional 2,111,699 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of SLM by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,923,576 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $158,342,000 after purchasing an additional 43,927 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors acquired a new stake in shares of SLM in the 4th quarter valued at $144,101,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of SLM by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,175,645 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $142,744,000 after purchasing an additional 338,128 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.94% of the company’s stock.

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.