SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) Price Target Raised to $33.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) had its target price upped by Wells Fargo & Company from $32.00 to $33.00 in a report issued on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the credit services provider’s stock.

SLM has been the topic of several other research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of SLM from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday. Compass Point boosted their price target on SLM from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on SLM from $26.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on SLM from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of SLM from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, SLM currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $29.82.

SLM Stock Down 1.0 %

SLM stock opened at $29.01 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $6.16 billion, a PE ratio of 10.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.29. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $27.27 and a 200 day moving average of $23.89. SLM has a one year low of $18.84 and a one year high of $31.49.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The credit services provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.06). SLM had a net margin of 22.18% and a return on equity of 35.92%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that SLM will post 2.72 EPS for the current year.

SLM Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be given a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. SLM’s payout ratio is currently 18.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other SLM news, Director Robert S. Strong sold 4,500 shares of SLM stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.25, for a total value of $122,625.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 83,130 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,265,292.50. The trade was a 5.14 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in SLM by 3,800.6% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,406,384 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $55,034,000 after buying an additional 2,344,691 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of SLM by 107.1% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,366,642 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $49,202,000 after acquiring an additional 1,224,015 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of SLM by 253.8% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,290,997 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $26,840,000 after acquiring an additional 926,120 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of SLM by 7.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,762,328 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $108,936,000 after acquiring an additional 331,490 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AXA S.A. purchased a new position in shares of SLM in the second quarter valued at $5,046,000. 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.