Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) Stock Price Expected to Rise, JPMorgan Chase & Co. Analyst Says

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) had its price target hoisted by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $8.00 to $8.50 in a report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the credit services provider’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price objective indicates a potential downside of 9.34% from the company’s previous close.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Navient in a research report on Monday, September 21st. TD Cowen restated a “sell” rating on shares of Navient in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Navient from $8.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $8.17.

Navient Stock Performance

NAVI traded up $0.27 on Monday, hitting $9.38. 427,851 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,132,408. The firm has a market cap of $879.32 million, a PE ratio of -18.75 and a beta of 1.15. Navient has a twelve month low of $7.33 and a twelve month high of $13.48. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $9.27 and a two-hundred day moving average of $8.70. The company has a current ratio of 10.53, a quick ratio of 10.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.73.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The credit services provider reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.09. Navient had a negative net margin of 1.64% and a positive return on equity of 4.68%. The firm had revenue of $150.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $142.87 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.20 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Navient will post 0.80 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of NAVI. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Navient in the second quarter worth about $110,235,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Navient by 41.5% in the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,939,380 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $16,504,000 after buying an additional 568,590 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in Navient during the 2nd quarter valued at about $11,989,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its stake in Navient by 145.9% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 939,099 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $7,992,000 after buying an additional 557,141 shares during the period. Finally, PDT Partners LLC acquired a new position in Navient during the 2nd quarter valued at about $4,435,000. 97.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Navient

Navient Corporation is a financial services company that provides education finance and loan management solutions. Its activities include servicing and managing private education loans and federally backed loans held in its portfolio, as well as providing related customer support, payment processing and account administration services.

The company was formed in 2014 through the separation of Sallie Mae’s education-lending and loan-servicing businesses. Navient formerly serviced a significant portion of the federal student loan portfolio, but it exited the U.S.