SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) Short Interest Update

SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,730,000 shares, a decrease of 18.3% from the June 30th total of 10,690,000 shares. Approximately 4.0% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 1,680,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.2 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SLM

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in SLM by 3.6% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in SLM by 5.7% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 12,461,356 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $271,626,000 after purchasing an additional 674,424 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of SLM by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,473,007 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $123,767,000 after acquiring an additional 170,764 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of SLM by 186.3% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,517,251 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $54,851,000 after acquiring an additional 1,638,003 shares during the period. Finally, Polaris Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of SLM by 34.1% in the 4th quarter. Polaris Capital Management LLC now owns 2,445,400 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $46,756,000 after acquiring an additional 622,400 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.94% of the company’s stock.

SLM Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SLM traded down $0.17 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $22.56. 1,432,839 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,941,392. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.66. SLM has a 1 year low of $12.26 and a 1 year high of $23.95. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $21.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $20.85. The stock has a market cap of $4.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.05, a PEG ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 1.17.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The credit services provider reported $1.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.32. SLM had a return on equity of 41.84% and a net margin of 24.67%. The firm had revenue of $783.28 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $368.97 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.10 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that SLM will post 2.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SLM Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 5th will be issued a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 5th. SLM’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on SLM shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on SLM from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on SLM from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Wedbush increased their target price on SLM from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on SLM from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price target on SLM from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $24.00.

About SLM

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.