Q4 Earnings Forecast for SLM Issued By Wedbush (NASDAQ:SLM)

SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM - Free Report) - Research analysts at Wedbush boosted their Q4 2024 earnings estimates for SLM in a research report issued on Thursday, October 24th. Wedbush analyst D. Chiaverini now expects that the credit services provider will post earnings per share of $0.59 for the quarter, up from their previous estimate of $0.20. Wedbush currently has a "Outperform" rating and a $26.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for SLM's current full-year earnings is $2.75 per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for SLM's Q2 2025 earnings at $0.49 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $3.60 EPS.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The credit services provider reported ($0.23) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.07 by ($0.30). The firm had revenue of $652.64 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $363.40 million. SLM had a return on equity of 35.92% and a net margin of 22.18%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.11 EPS.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on SLM. Barclays cut their target price on SLM from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of SLM from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of SLM from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of SLM from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on SLM from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Two investment 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, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $25.45.

SLM Price Performance

Shares of SLM stock traded up $0.45 during trading on Monday, hitting $22.35. 2,066,971 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,795,025. SLM has a twelve month low of $12.81 and a twelve month high of $23.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The company has a market cap of $4.91 billion, a PE ratio of 7.01, a PEG ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.15. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $21.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $21.50.

SLM Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be given a dividend of $0.13 per share. This is a boost from SLM's previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.33%. SLM's payout ratio is presently 16.25%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Robert S. Strong sold 4,500 shares of SLM stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.70, for a total transaction of $102,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 101,093 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,294,811.10. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in SLM by 117.5% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 73,140 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $1,594,000 after acquiring an additional 39,519 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in SLM by 77.8% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 64,514 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $1,406,000 after buying an additional 28,236 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp raised its holdings in SLM by 50.7% during the 2nd quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 290,636 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $6,042,000 after buying an additional 97,832 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in SLM by 3.3% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 816,274 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $17,788,000 after buying an additional 26,064 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Shikiar Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in SLM by 19.5% in the 2nd quarter. Shikiar Asset Management Inc. now owns 211,350 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $4,394,000 after purchasing an additional 34,550 shares during the period. 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.