SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.13

SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 22nd,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be paid a dividend of 0.13 per share by the credit services provider on Monday, March 17th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.79%.

SLM has increased its dividend by an average of 32.0% per year over the last three years. SLM has a dividend payout ratio of 15.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect SLM to earn $3.10 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.52 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 16.8%.

SLM Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of SLM stock opened at $29.08 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $23.79. SLM has a 12-month low of $18.84 and a 12-month high of $29.20. The company has a market capitalization of $6.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The credit services provider reported ($0.23) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.07 by ($0.30). SLM had a return on equity of 35.92% and a net margin of 22.18%. The company had revenue of $652.64 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $363.40 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.11 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that SLM will post 2.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America assumed coverage on SLM in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. They set a “buy” rating and a $27.00 price target for the company. Barclays reduced their price objective on SLM from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $30.00 price objective (up previously from $27.00) on shares of SLM in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $26.00 price target on shares of SLM in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $26.00 price target on shares of SLM in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $27.90.

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.