Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 664,823 Shares of Navient Corporation $NAVI

Vanguard Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI) by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,555,881 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 664,823 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 0.08% of Navient worth $99,360,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. CWM LLC grew its stake in Navient by 79.0% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,525 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 1,114 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Navient in the 3rd quarter worth $68,000. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Navient during the 3rd quarter valued at about $88,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in shares of Navient by 77.0% during the second quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 7,766 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $109,000 after purchasing an additional 3,378 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Navient during the second quarter valued at about $152,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on Navient from $15.00 to $9.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Zacks Research downgraded Navient from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Barclays set a $9.00 price objective on Navient in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Navient in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $12.00 price target on shares of Navient in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and six have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Strong Sell” and a consensus target price of $11.63.

Navient Price Performance

Shares of NAVI stock opened at $8.68 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.94, a current ratio of 9.01 and a quick ratio of 9.01. The company has a market capitalization of $825.38 million, a P/E ratio of -10.59 and a beta of 1.33. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $10.96 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $12.10. Navient Corporation has a one year low of $8.30 and a one year high of $16.07.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The credit services provider reported $0.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.31 by ($0.29). Navient had a positive return on equity of 4.70% and a negative net margin of 2.47%.The firm had revenue of $137.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $144.25 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.24) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Navient Corporation will post 1.04 EPS for the current year.

Navient Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 6th. Navient’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -78.05%.

Navient Profile

Navient Corporation (NASDAQ: NAVI) is a specialized provider of asset management and business processing solutions, with a primary focus on student loan servicing. Established in 2014 through the separation from Sallie Mae, Navient assumed responsibility for servicing federal and private education loans, positioning itself as one of the largest servicers of higher education debt in the United States.

The company’s core activities center on federal student loan servicing under contracts with the U.S.