SLM Corporation to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.13 (NASDAQ:SLM)

SLM Corporation (NASDAQ:SLM) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, July 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 4th will be given a dividend of 0.13 per share by the credit services provider on Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th.

SLM has raised its dividend by an average of 0.3%per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 1 years. SLM has a dividend payout ratio of 15.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect SLM to earn $3.39 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 15.3%.

SLM Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:SLM opened at $25.22 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $23.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $23.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.76 billion, a PE ratio of 6.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.94. SLM has a twelve month low of $17.77 and a twelve month high of $33.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.59.

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. The company had revenue of $559.99 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $486.05 million. SLM had a return on equity of 34.80% and a net margin of 26.42%.The firm’s revenue was down 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.40 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that SLM will post 3.16 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on SLM. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on SLM from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of SLM from $32.00 to $29.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Zacks Research lowered SLM from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of SLM from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $26.00 target price (down from $30.00) on shares of SLM in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $29.90.

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.