Navient Corporation (NAVI) – What Are Researchers Thinking About This Stock?

Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the eight analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and four have assigned a hold recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $8.17.

NAVI has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Navient from $8.00 to $8.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Navient in a research note on Monday, September 21st. Barclays dropped their price objective on Navient from $8.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 5th. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “sell” rating on shares of Navient in a research report on Friday, August 7th.

Navient Price Performance

NAVI opened at $9.26 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $868.40 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -18.52 and a beta of 1.15. Navient has a 1 year low of $7.33 and a 1 year high of $13.48. The company has a current ratio of 10.53, a quick ratio of 10.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.73. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $9.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $8.71.

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

Navient Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 4th were given a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 4th. Navient’s payout ratio is currently -128.00%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Navient during the 2nd quarter valued at about $110,235,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in shares of Navient in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $11,989,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings 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 worth $16,504,000 after purchasing an additional 568,590 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its holdings in Navient by 145.9% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 939,099 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $7,992,000 after purchasing an additional 557,141 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PDT Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Navient in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $4,435,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.14% of the company’s stock.

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.