Royal Bank of Canada Increases SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) Price Target to $27.00

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) had its price objective upped by Royal Bank of Canada from $25.00 to $27.00 in a research report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the credit services provider’s stock.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of SLM from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Thursday. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of SLM from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of SLM from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of SLM from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of SLM from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $24.00.

SLM Stock Performance

Shares of SLM stock opened at $22.73 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.66, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.26. The company has a market capitalization of $4.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 1.17. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $21.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $20.83. SLM has a 52 week low of $12.26 and a 52 week high of $23.95.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The credit services provider reported $1.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $783.28 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $368.97 million. SLM had a net margin of 24.67% and a return on equity of 41.84%. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.10 EPS. On average, analysts expect that SLM will post 2.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SLM Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 5th will be given a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 5th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.94%. SLM’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.75%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SLM

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SLM. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of SLM by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,136,784 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $633,575,000 after acquiring an additional 1,151,557 shares during the period. Boston Partners boosted its position in shares of SLM by 5.7% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 12,461,356 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $271,626,000 after acquiring an additional 674,424 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of SLM by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,473,007 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $123,767,000 after acquiring an additional 170,764 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of 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 valued at $54,851,000 after acquiring an additional 1,638,003 shares during the period. Finally, Polaris Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of SLM by 34.1% in the fourth quarter. Polaris Capital Management LLC now owns 2,445,400 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $46,756,000 after acquiring an additional 622,400 shares during the period. 98.94% of the stock is 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.