SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) Receives Outperform Rating from Wedbush

Wedbush reiterated their outperform rating on shares of SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) in a research note released on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $26.00 price target on the credit services provider’s stock. Wedbush also issued estimates for SLM’s Q1 2025 earnings at $1.09 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $0.68 EPS and Q4 2025 earnings at $0.74 EPS.

SLM has been the subject of several other research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on SLM from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of SLM from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of SLM from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of SLM from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of SLM from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $24.67.

SLM Stock Performance

NASDAQ:SLM traded up $0.29 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $22.50. The stock had a trading volume of 124,898 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,780,400. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.66. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.94, a P/E/G ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.15. SLM has a 52 week low of $12.26 and a 52 week high of $23.95.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The credit services provider reported ($0.23) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.07 by ($0.30). SLM had a net margin of 24.67% and a return on equity of 41.84%. The firm had revenue of $652.64 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $363.40 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.11 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that SLM will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SLM Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be issued a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.31%. This is a boost from SLM’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. SLM’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.75%.

Insider Transactions at SLM

In other news, Director Robert S. Strong sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.70, for a total transaction of $102,150.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 101,093 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,294,811.10. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of SLM by 13.3% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,077 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $116,000 after acquiring an additional 594 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of SLM by 3.1% in 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 purchasing an additional 664 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its holdings in shares of SLM by 5.3% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 18,708 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $428,000 after purchasing an additional 942 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of SLM by 9.9% in the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 11,017 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $240,000 after buying an additional 990 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of SLM by 358.7% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,399 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 1,094 shares in the last quarter. 98.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.