SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) Hits New 52-Week High at $23.00

SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $23.00 and last traded at $22.95, with a volume of 464823 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $21.91.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on SLM shares. TD Cowen lifted their price target on SLM from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of SLM from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of SLM from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on SLM from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $28.00 price objective on shares of SLM in a report on Thursday, May 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.50.

SLM Trading Up 4.6 %

The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.67. The company has a market capitalization of $5.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.07, a P/E/G ratio of 0.43 and a beta of 1.17. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $20.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $20.51.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The credit services provider reported $1.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.09 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $837.72 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 prior year, the company earned $0.47 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that SLM Co. will post 2.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SLM Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 6th were paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 6th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.92%. SLM’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.75%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SLM. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of SLM in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,108,000. Boston Partners grew its holdings in SLM by 20.1% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 11,786,932 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $225,574,000 after buying an additional 1,969,885 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of SLM by 186.3% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,517,251 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $54,851,000 after acquiring an additional 1,638,003 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of SLM by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,136,784 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $633,575,000 after acquiring an additional 1,151,557 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vest Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of SLM by 6,779.4% during the 1st quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 894,116 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $19,483,000 after acquiring an additional 881,119 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.