SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) Shares Gap Down Following Analyst Downgrade

SLM Corporation (NASDAQ:SLM)’s share price gapped down prior to trading on Tuesday after Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on the stock from $31.00 to $29.00. The stock had previously closed at $30.85, but opened at $25.70. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has a market perform rating on the stock. SLM shares last traded at $25.3890, with a volume of 7,077,379 shares trading hands.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on SLM. Wall Street Zen raised SLM from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 25th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $31.00 price target (down previously from $36.00) on shares of SLM in a report on Tuesday. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of SLM from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $29.00 price objective (down from $38.00) on shares of SLM in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of SLM from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 5th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.20.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SLM

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. City Holding Co. bought a new stake in SLM in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S acquired a new stake in shares of SLM during the 1st quarter valued at about $45,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in SLM in the first quarter valued at about $62,000. Triumph Capital Management acquired a new position in SLM in the third quarter worth about $69,000. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in SLM in the first quarter worth about $94,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.94% of the company’s stock.

SLM Trading Up 4.3%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $27.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.10. The stock has a market cap of $5.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.60, a PEG ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.14.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 14th. The credit services provider reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter. SLM had a return on equity of 30.13% and a net margin of 21.76%.The company had revenue of ($3.44) million for the quarter. SLM has set its FY 2022 guidance at $2.800-$3.000 EPS. On average, analysts expect that SLM Corporation will post 3.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SLM Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 4th. SLM’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.25%.

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.