Wedbush Issues Optimistic Forecast for SLM Earnings

SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) – Equities researchers at Wedbush upped their Q3 2025 earnings per share estimates for SLM in a report released on Monday, November 25th. Wedbush analyst D. Chiaverini now forecasts that the credit services provider will post earnings of $0.74 per share for the quarter, up from their previous estimate of $0.68. 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 $2.73 per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for SLM’s FY2025 earnings at $3.15 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $3.80 EPS.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of SLM from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $26.00 price target on shares of SLM in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays dropped their price objective on SLM from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on SLM in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. They set a “buy” rating and a $27.00 target price for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, SLM currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $25.45.

SLM Stock Down 1.6 %

SLM stock opened at $27.42 on Tuesday. SLM has a 52 week low of $14.03 and a 52 week high of $28.22. The stock has a market cap of $5.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.55, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.16. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $23.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $21.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The credit services provider reported ($0.23) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.07 by ($0.30). SLM had a return on equity of 35.92% and a net margin of 22.18%. The business had revenue of $652.64 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $363.40 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.11 EPS.

SLM Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. This is a positive change from SLM’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.90%. SLM’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.12%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in SLM by 362.9% in the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 338,534 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $7,038,000 after purchasing an additional 265,394 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp boosted its position in shares of SLM by 50.7% in the second 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 boosted its position in shares of 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 worth $17,788,000 after buying an additional 26,064 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of SLM during the third quarter valued at $623,000. Finally, Shikiar Asset Management Inc. raised its position in SLM by 19.5% during the second quarter. Shikiar Asset Management Inc. now owns 211,350 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $4,394,000 after buying an additional 34,550 shares during the period. 98.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.