SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.11

SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, July 23rd, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 5th will be given a dividend of 0.11 per share by the credit services provider on Monday, September 16th. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 5th.

SLM has increased its dividend by an average of 54.2% annually over the last three years. SLM has a dividend payout ratio of 14.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect SLM to earn $3.00 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.44 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 14.7%.

SLM Stock Performance

SLM stock opened at $22.06 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $21.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $21.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.66, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.26. The stock has a market cap of $4.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.89, a PEG ratio of 0.43 and a beta of 1.17. SLM has a fifty-two week low of $12.26 and a fifty-two week high of $23.95.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The credit services provider reported $1.11 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $783.28 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $368.97 million. SLM had a return on equity of 41.84% and a net margin of 24.67%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.10 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that SLM will post 2.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at SLM

In other SLM news, Director Robert S. Strong sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.70, for a total transaction of $102,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 101,093 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,294,811.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. TD Cowen upped their price objective on SLM from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on SLM from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Wedbush upped their price objective on SLM from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of SLM from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of SLM from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $24.00.

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.