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

SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 22nd,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be given a dividend of 0.13 per share by the credit services provider on Monday, March 17th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.77%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th.

SLM has raised its dividend by an average of 32.0% per year over the last three years. SLM has a payout ratio of 15.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 Stock Up 0.8 %

SLM opened at $29.30 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $27.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.29. SLM has a twelve month low of $18.84 and a twelve month high of $29.75. The firm has a market cap of $6.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.21, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.21.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The credit services provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.06). SLM had a return on equity of 35.92% and a net margin of 22.18%. Equities research analysts anticipate that SLM will post 2.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at SLM

In other SLM news, Director Robert S. Strong sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.25, for a total transaction 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. This trade represents a 5.14 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on SLM shares. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of SLM from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $30.00 price objective (up previously from $27.00) on shares of SLM in a report on Monday, December 9th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $26.00 price objective on shares of SLM in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $26.00 price objective on shares of SLM in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of SLM from $26.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.