SLM Co. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.13 (NASDAQ:SLM)

SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 22nd,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be given a dividend of 0.13 per share by the credit services provider on Monday, March 17th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.79%.

SLM has increased its dividend by an average of 32.0% per year over the last three years. SLM has a dividend payout ratio of 15.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect SLM to earn $3.10 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.52 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 16.8%.

SLM Stock Performance

NASDAQ:SLM opened at $29.08 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $27.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $23.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.17 billion, a PE ratio of 10.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21. SLM has a twelve month low of $18.84 and a twelve month high of $29.20.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The credit services provider reported ($0.23) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.07 by ($0.30). SLM had a net margin of 22.18% and a return on equity of 35.92%. The business had revenue of $652.64 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $363.40 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.11 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that SLM will post 2.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at SLM

In other news, Director Robert S. Strong sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.25, for a total transaction of $122,625.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 83,130 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,265,292.50. This represents a 5.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on SLM shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $30.00 price target (up from $27.00) on shares of SLM in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Bank of America assumed coverage on SLM in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. They set a “buy” rating and a $27.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on SLM from $26.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $26.00 price objective on shares of SLM in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on SLM from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, SLM currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $27.90.

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.