SLM (SLM) Competitors

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) and SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, risk, media sentiment, dividends, institutional ownership and profitability.

Do insiders and institutionals believe in HBAN or SLM?

80.7% of Huntington Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.9% of SLM shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of Huntington Bancshares shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.3% of SLM shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more volatility and risk, HBAN or SLM?

Huntington Bancshares has a beta of 0.93, suggesting that its stock price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SLM has a beta of 1.13, suggesting that its stock price is 13% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, HBAN or SLM?

Huntington Bancshares has higher revenue and earnings than SLM. Huntington Bancshares is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than SLM, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Huntington Bancshares	$11.96B	1.96	$1.94B	$1.35	11.88
SLM	$2.62B	2.55	$608.33M	$1.99	16.09

Is HBAN or SLM a better dividend stock?

Huntington Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.62 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. SLM pays an annual dividend of $0.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Huntington Bancshares pays out 45.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. SLM pays out 26.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. SLM has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Is HBAN or SLM more profitable?

Huntington Bancshares has a net margin of 17.36% compared to SLM's net margin of 15.46%. SLM's return on equity of 21.93% beat Huntington Bancshares' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Huntington Bancshares	17.36%	11.81%	1.06%
SLM	15.46%	21.93%	1.49%

Does the media refer more to HBAN or SLM?

In the previous week, Huntington Bancshares had 2 more articles in the media than SLM. MarketBeat recorded 11 mentions for Huntington Bancshares and 9 mentions for SLM. Huntington Bancshares' average media sentiment score of 1.69 beat SLM's score of 0.79 indicating that Huntington Bancshares is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Huntington Bancshares	11 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
SLM	7 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts recommend HBAN or SLM?

Huntington Bancshares currently has a consensus target price of $18.68, indicating a potential upside of 16.52%. SLM has a consensus target price of $35.00, indicating a potential upside of 9.29%. Given Huntington Bancshares' higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Huntington Bancshares is more favorable than SLM.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Huntington Bancshares	1 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	15 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.86
SLM	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.90

Summary

SLM beats Huntington Bancshares on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.