SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) Hits New 12-Month Low – Time to Sell?

SLM Corporation (NASDAQ:SLM)’s share price reached a new 52-week low on Wednesday. The stock traded as low as $17.69 and last traded at $17.6390, with a volume of 2,366,247 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $18.77.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SLM has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on SLM from $28.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. Weiss Ratings cut SLM from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. Barclays cut their price target on shares of SLM from $26.00 to $22.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of SLM from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on SLM from $30.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $26.44.

SLM Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.76, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.23. The stock has a market cap of $3.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.96. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $23.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $23.63.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The credit services provider reported ($0.19) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by ($0.36). The company had revenue of $375.47 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $453.34 million. SLM had a return on equity of 26.34% and a net margin of 20.43%. The firm’s revenue was down 31.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.63 EPS. Analysts expect that SLM Corporation will post 2.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SLM Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 4th will be paid a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 4th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. SLM’s payout ratio is presently 18.84%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SLM

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of SLM during the 2nd quarter valued at about $455,576,000. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC purchased a new position in SLM in the second quarter worth about $169,136,000. Azora Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of SLM in the second quarter valued at $97,917,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in SLM in the 2nd quarter worth about $39,251,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in SLM during the 2nd quarter valued at $37,268,000. 98.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

SLM Company Profile

SLM Corp., commonly known as Sallie Mae, is a financial services company focused on helping students and families finance higher education. Its primary business is the origination and servicing of private education loans, which can help cover tuition, fees, books, housing and other eligible education-related expenses not fully covered by federal student aid.

The company offers private student loans for undergraduate and graduate education, as well as loans for career-training programs and other education needs.