Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) Shares Down 7.2% – What’s Next?

Shares of Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI) dropped 7.2% during trading on Monday. The company traded as low as $8.05 and last traded at $7.8110. 62,786 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 95% from the average daily volume of 1,169,570 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.42.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NAVI has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Navient from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 12th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Navient from $8.50 to $8.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Navient in a research note on Monday, September 21st. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Navient from $7.00 to $6.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Navient from $8.50 to $9.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $8.00.

Navient Stock Down 3.0%

The company has a current ratio of 7.50, a quick ratio of 10.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 15.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $765.71 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.46 and a beta of 1.17. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $9.17 and a 200-day moving average of $8.87.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The credit services provider reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by ($0.10). Navient had a return on equity of 3.65% and a net margin of 1.79%. The company had revenue of $308.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $144.92 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.84) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Navient Corporation will post 0.71 EPS for the current year.

Navient Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 4th were given a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 4th. Navient’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 120.75%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Navient

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Navient by 325.6% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 5,005 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 3,829 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in Navient by 552.6% during 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. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in Navient during the 1st quarter worth approximately $72,000. Greenwood Gearhart LLC purchased a new position in Navient during the 1st quarter worth approximately $84,000. Finally, United Capital Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Navient during the 2nd quarter valued at $87,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.14% of the company’s stock.

Navient Company Profile

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.