SLM Corporation (NASDAQ:SLM) Receives $29.80 Average PT from Brokerages

Shares of SLM Corporation (NASDAQ:SLM) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the twelve analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $29.80.

Several research firms have recently commented on SLM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of SLM from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of SLM from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $26.00 target price (down from $30.00) on shares of SLM in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Weiss Ratings raised SLM from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered SLM from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its position in SLM by 6.6% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 21,350 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $627,000 after purchasing an additional 1,319 shares during the period. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new position in SLM during the 1st quarter valued at $263,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of SLM by 33.4% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 547,724 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $16,087,000 after purchasing an additional 137,285 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of SLM by 118.2% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,995 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $131,000 after purchasing an additional 2,164 shares during the period. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors raised its stake in shares of SLM by 6.1% in the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 36,889 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,210,000 after buying an additional 2,109 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.94% of the company’s stock.

SLM Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SLM opened at $26.41 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $4.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.96. SLM has a 12-month low of $17.77 and a 12-month high of $32.02. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.63. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $25.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $23.23.

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

SLM Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Investors of record on Friday, September 4th will be given a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. SLM’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.53%.

SLM Company Profile

SLM Corporation, operating as Sallie Mae Bank, is a leading U.S.-based consumer banking company specializing in education financing and related banking products. The company provides a range of private student loans for undergraduate and graduate studies, Parent PLUS loans, and specialized financing for career and certificate programs. In addition to its core lending services, Sallie Mae offers deposit products including savings accounts, checking accounts, money market accounts, certificates of deposit, and credit cards tailored to students and young adults.

Founded in 1972 as the Student Loan Marketing Association—a government-sponsored enterprise—Sallie Mae was privatized in 2004 and has since focused on expanding its private education loan offerings and digital banking solutions.