Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI) Stock Now Rated “Reduce” by Wall Street Analysts

Shares of Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI) have earned a consensus rating of “Reduce” from the eight ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have issued a hold recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $8.17.

NAVI has been the subject of a number of research reports. TD Cowen reiterated a “sell” rating on shares of Navient in a report on Friday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Navient from $8.00 to $8.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 12th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Navient in a research report on Monday, September 21st. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Navient from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 12th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Navient from $8.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 5th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of NAVI. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Navient by 552.6% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 4,855 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 4,111 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Navient by 325.6% during the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 5,005 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 3,829 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new stake in shares of Navient during the first quarter valued at $72,000. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Navient during the second quarter valued at $87,000. Finally, Greenwood Gearhart LLC bought a new stake in Navient in the 1st quarter worth about $84,000. 97.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Navient Stock Up 9.8%

NAVI stock opened at $9.07 on Friday. Navient has a fifty-two week low of $7.33 and a fifty-two week high of $13.48. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $9.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $8.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.73, a quick ratio of 10.53 and a current ratio of 10.53. The company has a market capitalization of $850.58 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.06 and a beta of 1.17.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The credit services provider reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $308.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $144.92 million. Navient had a negative net margin of 1.64% and a positive return on equity of 4.68%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.84) EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Navient will post 0.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Navient Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 18th. Investors of record on Friday, September 4th were given a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 4th. Navient’s dividend payout ratio is -128.00%.

About Navient

Navient Corp. (NASDAQ:NAVI) is a financial services company that provides education finance and business-processing solutions. The company has historically serviced and managed federal and private student loans, helping borrowers with account administration, repayment processing, customer support and related loan-management services.

Navient’s operations have evolved as the company reduced its role in servicing federally owned student loans. In 2021, it transferred its federal student loan servicing portfolio to Aidvantage, a division of Maximus.