SLM (SLM) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

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. The company was formerly known as New BLC Corporation and changed its name to SLM Corporation in December 2013. SLM Corporation was founded in 1972 and is headquartered in Newark, Delaware.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $27.95 to $28.55
• 50-Day Range: $23.87 to $28.20
• 52-Week Range: $18.25 to $28.91
• Volume: 1.93 million shs
• Average Volume: 2.61 million shs
• Market Capitalization: $5.94 billion
• P/E Ratio: 9.75
• Dividend Yield: 1.86%
• Price Target: $27.90
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy

SLM Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

SLM scored higher than 98% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 23rd out of 948 stocks in the finance sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 2.4 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Moderate Buy

Consensus Rating

SLM has received a consensus rating of Moderate Buy. The company's average rating score is 2.80, and is based on 8 buy ratings, 2 hold ratings, and no sell ratings.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

SLM has been the subject of 6 research reports in the past 90 days, demonstrating strong analyst interest in this stock.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 3.8 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 13.97%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for SLM are expected to grow by 13.97% in the coming year, from $2.72 to $3.10 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of SLM is 9.75, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 111.72.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of SLM is 9.75, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Finance sector average P/E ratio of about 25.18.

Price to Earnings Growth Ratio

SLM has a PEG Ratio of 0.73. PEG Ratios below 1 indicate that a company could be undervalued.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

SLM has a P/B Ratio of 3.89. P/B Ratios above 3 indicate that a company could be overvalued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 3.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Healthy

Percentage of Shares Shorted

4.18% of the float of SLM has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

SLM has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 3.8, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in SLM has recently increased by 7.35%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

Dividend

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Moderate

Dividend Yield

SLM pays a meaningful dividend of 1.93%, higher than the bottom 25% of all stocks that pay dividends.

Dividend Growth

SLM does not have a long track record of dividend growth.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of SLM is 18.12%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, SLM will have a dividend payout ratio of 16.77% next year. This indicates that SLM will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

Sustainability and ESG

• Score: 4.6 / 5
• Environmental Score: -0.15

Percentage of Shares Shorted

4.18% of the float of SLM has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

SLM has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 3.8, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in SLM has recently increased by 7.35%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

News and Social Media

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• News Sentiment: 0.45

News Sentiment

SLM has a news sentiment score of 0.45. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a lower news sentiment than the 0.59 average news sentiment score of Finance companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 19 news articles for SLM this week, compared to 9 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

7 people have searched for SLM on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 133% compared to the previous 30 days.

MarketBeat Follows

Only 1 people have added SLM to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is a decrease of 0% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Insider Trading: Selling Shares

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, SLM insiders have sold more of their company's stock than they have bought. Specifically, they have bought $0.00 in company stock and sold $122,625.00 in company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

Only 1.20% of the stock of SLM is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

98.94% of the stock of SLM is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

SLM Stock Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions

How have SLM shares performed this year?

SLM's stock was trading at $27.58 on January 1st, 2025. Since then, SLM shares have increased by 1.5% and is now trading at $27.98.
View the best growth stocks for 2025 here.

How were SLM's earnings last quarter?

SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October, 23rd. The credit services provider reported ($0.23) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.30. The credit services provider earned $652.64 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $363.40 million. SLM had a trailing twelve-month return on equity of 35.92% and a net margin of 22.18%.

How will SLM's stock buyback program work?

SLM's Board of Directors approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, January 24th 2024, which permits the company to buy back $650,000,000 in shares, according to EventVestor. This means that the company could buy up to 14.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Who are SLM's major shareholders?

SLM's top institutional investors include Assenagon Asset Management S.A. (0.35%), Perpetual Ltd (0.11%), Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. (0.11%) and Shikiar Asset Management Inc. (0.10%). Insiders that own company stock include Nicolas Jafarieh, Donna F Vieira, Robert S Strong, Jonathan Boyles and Steven Mcgarry.
View institutional ownership trends.

How do I buy shares of SLM?

Shares of SLM stock can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include Charles Schwab, E*TRADE, Fidelity, and Vanguard Brokerage Services.

What other stocks do shareholders of SLM own?

Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some other companies that SLM investors own include NVIDIA (NVDA), Meta Platforms (META), Broadcom (AVGO), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Adobe (ADBE), Arista Networks (ANET) and General Electric (GE).

Company Calendar

• Last Earnings: 10/23/2024
• Ex-Dividend for 12/16 Dividend: 12/05/2024
• Dividend Payable: 12/16/2024
• Today: 1/20/2025
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 1/23/2025
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2025

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NASDAQ
• Sector: Finance
• Industry: Personal credit institutions
• Sub-Industry: Consumer Finance
• Current Symbol: NASDAQ:SLM
• CUSIP: 78442P10
• CIK: 1032033
• Web: www.salliemae.com
• Phone: (302) 451-0200
• Fax: 800-848-1949
• Employees: 1,740
• Year Founded: N/A

Price Target and Rating

• Average Stock Price Target: $27.90
• High Stock Price Target: $32.00
• Low Stock Price Target: $26.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: -0.3%
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.80
• Research Coverage: 10 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Most Recent Fiscal Year): $2.87
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 9.75
• Forward P/E Ratio: 10.29
• P/E Growth: 0.73
• Net Income: $581.39 million
• Net Margins: 22.18%
• Pretax Margin: 29.73%
• Return on Equity: 35.92%
• Return on Assets: 2.29%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 3.21
• Current Ratio: 1.29
• Quick Ratio: 1.27

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $2.84 billion
• Price / Sales: 2.09
• Cash Flow: $3.17 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 8.84
• Book Value: $7.20 per share
• Price / Book: 3.89

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 212,330,000
• Free Float: 209,782,000
• Market Cap: $5.94 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 1.21