SLM Corporation (NASDAQ:SLM) Stock Rated “Hold” by Sell-Side Analysts

SLM Corporation (NASDAQ:SLM) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the twelve brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $29.80.

A number of analysts recently weighed in on SLM shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of SLM in a research report on Monday, September 14th. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $26.00 target price (down from $30.00) on shares of SLM in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $28.00 price target on shares of SLM in a report on Friday, July 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of SLM from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered SLM from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 25th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SLM

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SLM. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in SLM during the 2nd quarter worth $455,576,000. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new stake in shares of SLM in the 2nd quarter valued at about $4,184,000. Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new position in shares of SLM during the second quarter worth about $2,236,000. PDT Partners LLC acquired a new stake in SLM during the second quarter valued at approximately $5,261,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new stake in SLM during the second quarter valued at approximately $3,349,000. 98.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

SLM Stock Down 2.4%

SLM opened at $23.05 on Friday. SLM has a 1 year low of $17.77 and a 1 year high of $31.06. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $26.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.63, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a current ratio of 1.33. The company has a market cap of $4.33 billion, a PE ratio of 6.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.96.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The credit services provider reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by ($0.17). SLM had a net margin of 26.09% and a return on equity of 33.81%. The business had revenue of $401.11 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $409.22 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.32 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. SLM has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.200 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that SLM will post 3.12 earnings per share for the current year.

SLM Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 4th were issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. SLM’s payout ratio is currently 14.53%.

SLM Company Profile

SLM Corporation, commonly known as Sallie Mae, is a U.S.-based education finance company that provides private education loans to undergraduate and graduate students, as well as to parents and other borrowers. Its lending products are designed to help cover tuition, fees, housing, books and other qualified education expenses not fully met by federal financial aid or other funding sources.

Through Sallie Mae Bank, the company also offers consumer deposit products, including savings accounts, certificates of deposit and money market accounts.