Royal Bank Of Canada Issues Positive Forecast for SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) Stock Price

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) had its target price lifted by Royal Bank Of Canada from $28.00 to $29.00 in a research note released on Friday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the credit services provider’s stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Weiss Ratings raised SLM from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Morgan Stanley set a $27.00 price objective on shares of SLM in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Compass Point raised shares of SLM from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $23.00 to $22.00 in a research report on Monday, March 30th. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $26.00 price objective (down from $30.00) on shares of SLM in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of SLM from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, SLM has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $29.50.

SLM Stock Up 0.9%

SLM stock opened at $24.96 on Friday. SLM has a twelve month low of $17.77 and a twelve month high of $33.85. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.59. The firm has a market cap of $4.71 billion, a PE ratio of 6.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a 50 day moving average of $22.98 and a 200 day moving average of $23.49.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The credit services provider reported $1.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.40. SLM had a return on equity of 34.80% and a net margin of 26.42%.The business had revenue of $559.99 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $486.05 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.40 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. SLM has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.200 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that SLM will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SLM Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 4th were paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 4th. SLM’s payout ratio is currently 14.40%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SLM

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of SLM by 19.4% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,081 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $66,000 after buying an additional 501 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in SLM by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,649 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $207,000 after buying an additional 669 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its holdings in SLM by 6.6% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 21,350 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $627,000 after buying an additional 1,319 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its position in SLM by 6.1% in the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 36,889 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,210,000 after acquiring an additional 2,109 shares during the period. Finally, Triumph Capital Management bought a new position in SLM in the third quarter worth approximately $69,000. Institutional investors own 98.94% of the company’s stock.

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.