Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) Coverage Initiated at StockNews.com

StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI – Get Rating) in a report issued on Thursday. The firm issued a hold rating on the credit services provider’s stock.

NAVI has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Navient from $15.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 1st. Credit Suisse Group upped their price objective on shares of Navient from $14.00 to $16.50 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, January 26th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Navient from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $14.00 to $16.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Navient from $14.50 to $17.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 10th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Navient from $16.00 to $19.00 in a report on Friday, January 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $17.40.

Navient Stock Down 3.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:NAVI opened at $15.15 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $1.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 1.53. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $17.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $16.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 20.50, a current ratio of 11.42 and a quick ratio of 11.42. Navient has a 1-year low of $12.45 and a 1-year high of $19.34.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 24th. The credit services provider reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $232.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $253.74 million. Navient had a return on equity of 16.40% and a net margin of 16.80%. Sell-side analysts predict that Navient will post 3.2 EPS for the current year.

Navient Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, March 3rd were paid a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 2nd. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.22%. Navient’s payout ratio is 14.48%.

Insider Activity at Navient

In related news, EVP Stephen M. Hauber sold 11,351 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.17, for a total value of $217,598.67. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 217,081 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,161,442.77. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Stephen M. Hauber sold 11,351 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.17, for a total value of $217,598.67. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 217,081 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,161,442.77. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP John M. Kane sold 17,006 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.56, for a total transaction of $281,619.36. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 607,303 shares in the company, valued at $10,056,937.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 22.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Navient

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of NAVI. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Navient during the 1st quarter worth about $236,000. AlphaCrest Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Navient in the first quarter worth approximately $382,000. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Navient by 36.6% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 180,855 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,082,000 after acquiring an additional 48,483 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its position in shares of Navient by 5.6% in the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 56,439 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $962,000 after acquiring an additional 3,003 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its position in shares of Navient by 22.9% in the first quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 2,641,958 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $45,019,000 after acquiring an additional 491,644 shares during the last quarter. 70.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Navient Company Profile

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Navient Corp. engages in the provision of asset management and business processing solutions for education, healthcare and government clients at the federal, state and local levels. It operates through the following segments: Federal Education Loans, Consumer Lending, Business Processing and Other. The Federal Education Loans segment owns FFELP Loans and performs servicing and asset recovery services on FFELP Loan portfolio.