Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) Trading Down 10% on Disappointing Earnings

Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI)’s stock price traded down 10% during mid-day trading on Wednesday following a weaker than expected earnings announcement. The company traded as low as $10.73 and last traded at $10.8360. 464,653 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 37% from the average session volume of 736,618 shares. The stock had previously closed at $12.04.

The credit services provider reported $0.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.31 by ($0.29). Navient had a negative net margin of 1.48% and a positive return on equity of 4.12%. The business had revenue of $137.00 million for 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. Navient has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.650-0.800 EPS.

Navient Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 5th were issued a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 5th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.0%. Navient’s payout ratio is -118.52%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NAVI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays raised their price target on Navient from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “sell” rating on shares of Navient in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Navient in a report on Monday, December 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Navient from $14.00 to $12.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Navient from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Strong Sell” and a consensus price target of $12.57.

Institutional Trading of Navient

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd raised its position in Navient by 23.2% during the 2nd quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 2,848,718 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $40,167,000 after purchasing an additional 536,933 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Navient by 6.8% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,159,730 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $28,400,000 after buying an additional 138,020 shares during the period. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Navient by 790.1% in the third quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC now owns 1,590,339 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $20,913,000 after acquiring an additional 1,411,662 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Navient by 0.5% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,462,585 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $19,233,000 after acquiring an additional 7,284 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in Navient by 70.0% during the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 888,186 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $11,680,000 after acquiring an additional 365,677 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.14% of the company’s stock.

Navient Trading Down 11.6%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.98, a quick ratio of 9.41 and a current ratio of 9.41. The company has a market capitalization of $1.04 billion, a P/E ratio of -19.71 and a beta of 1.29. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $12.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $12.82.

Navient Company 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.