SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) Given New $24.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) had its target price boosted by Wells Fargo & Company from $22.00 to $24.00 in a report released on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the credit services provider’s stock.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the company. Citigroup raised SLM from a neutral rating to a buy rating and raised their price objective for the company from $14.00 to $23.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. TheStreet raised SLM from a c+ rating to a b rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on SLM from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on SLM in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. They set a buy rating and a $25.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on SLM from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $20.32.

SLM Stock Up 1.0 %

SLM stock opened at $20.78 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.66, a PEG ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 1.16. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $20.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $17.88. SLM has a fifty-two week low of $12.26 and a fifty-two week high of $21.94.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The credit services provider reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by ($0.15). SLM had a return on equity of 36.86% and a net margin of 20.65%. The company had revenue of $725.66 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $379.20 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.33) EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that SLM will post 2.72 earnings per share for the current year.

SLM Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 4th were issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 1st. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.12%. SLM’s dividend payout ratio is 18.33%.

SLM declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, January 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $650.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the credit services provider to reacquire up to 14.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at SLM

In related news, EVP Donna F. Vieira sold 12,308 shares of SLM stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.27, for a total transaction of $249,483.16. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 126,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,564,155. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other SLM news, EVP Donna F. Vieira sold 12,308 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.27, for a total value of $249,483.16. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 126,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,564,155. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Jonathan Boyles sold 94,078 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.72, for a total value of $1,949,296.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 52,751 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,093,000.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.91% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of SLM by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,136,784 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $633,575,000 after buying an additional 1,151,557 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. lifted its position in shares of SLM by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 21,483,681 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $350,614,000 after buying an additional 75,771 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its position in shares of SLM by 20.1% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 11,786,932 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $225,574,000 after buying an additional 1,969,885 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of SLM by 17.6% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,605,432 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $81,839,000 after buying an additional 988,172 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of SLM by 53.0% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,530,000 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $83,171,000 after buying an additional 1,570,000 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.94% of the company’s stock.

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.