SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) Price Target Raised to $29.00

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) had its price target raised by Wedbush from $25.00 to $29.00 in a report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. Wedbush currently has an outperform rating on the credit services provider’s stock. Wedbush also issued estimates for SLM’s FY2024 earnings at $2.76 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $0.62 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $0.62 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $3.00 EPS.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on SLM from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on SLM from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. TD Cowen increased their target price on SLM from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on SLM from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $24.00.

SLM Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:SLM opened at $22.73 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $21.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $20.81. SLM has a fifty-two week low of $12.26 and a fifty-two week high of $23.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.23.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The credit services provider reported $1.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.32. SLM had a return on equity of 41.84% and a net margin of 24.67%. The firm had revenue of $783.28 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $368.97 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.10 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that SLM will post 2.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SLM Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 5th will be paid a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 5th. SLM’s payout ratio is 13.75%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SLM

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SLM. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings 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 worth $633,575,000 after acquiring an additional 1,151,557 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its holdings 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 worth $271,626,000 after acquiring an additional 674,424 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings 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 worth $123,767,000 after acquiring an additional 170,764 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings 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 worth $54,851,000 after acquiring an additional 1,638,003 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Polaris Capital Management LLC increased its holdings 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 worth $46,756,000 after acquiring an additional 622,400 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.