Royal Bank of Canada Raises SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) Price Target to $25.00

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) had its price target increased by equities researchers at Royal Bank of Canada from $24.00 to $25.00 in a research report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the credit services provider’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 14.52% from the stock’s current price.

SLM has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of SLM from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of SLM from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of SLM in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $25.00 target price on the stock. TheStreet raised shares of SLM from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of SLM from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $14.00 to $23.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, SLM has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.32.

SLM Stock Down 1.2 %

NASDAQ SLM traded down $0.27 during trading on Thursday, reaching $21.83. 1,797,356 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,141,462. 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 firm has a market cap of $4.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 1.16. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $20.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $18.14. SLM has a 12-month low of $12.26 and a 12-month high of $22.37.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The credit services provider reported $1.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.09 by $0.18. SLM had a net margin of 20.65% and a return on equity of 36.86%. The firm had revenue of $837.72 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $376.43 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.47 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that SLM will post 2.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SLM declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, January 24th that permits the company to repurchase $650.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the credit services provider to repurchase up to 14.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at SLM

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SLM

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of SLM. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of SLM by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,136,784 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $633,575,000 after purchasing an additional 1,151,557 shares during the period. Boston Partners grew its holdings in shares of SLM by 20.1% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 11,786,932 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $225,574,000 after purchasing an additional 1,969,885 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of SLM by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,473,007 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $123,767,000 after purchasing an additional 170,764 shares during the period. Goldentree Asset Management LP grew its holdings in shares of SLM by 9.1% in the third quarter. Goldentree Asset Management LP now owns 4,282,732 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $58,331,000 after purchasing an additional 357,235 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of SLM by 967.5% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,923,491 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $39,818,000 after purchasing an additional 2,649,626 shares during the period. 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.