Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI) Given Average Recommendation of “Reduce” by Brokerages

Shares of Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the nine research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and five have assigned a hold recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $9.1429.

Several brokerages recently commented on NAVI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Navient from $9.50 to $8.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Navient in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “sell” rating on shares of Navient in a report on Friday, August 7th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Navient

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NAVI. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Navient in the 2nd quarter valued at $212,000. WINTON GROUP Ltd raised its position in Navient by 290.4% in the 2nd quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 188,946 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,608,000 after purchasing an additional 140,550 shares during the last quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP boosted its stake in Navient by 329.5% during the 2nd quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 169,241 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,440,000 after purchasing an additional 129,841 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its position in Navient by 145.9% during 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, Corient Private Wealth LP grew its position in Navient by 425.8% during the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 55,539 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $473,000 after purchasing an additional 44,976 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.14% of the company’s stock.

Navient Stock Performance

Shares of Navient stock opened at $10.00 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $937.80 million, a P/E ratio of -20.00 and a beta of 1.18. Navient has a 52 week low of $7.33 and a 52 week high of $13.50. The company has a quick ratio of 10.53, a current ratio of 10.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.73. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $9.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $8.59.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The credit services provider reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.09. Navient had a negative net margin of 1.64% and a positive return on equity of 4.68%. The business had revenue of $150.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $142.87 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.20 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Navient will post 0.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Navient Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Investors of record on Friday, September 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. Navient’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -128.00%.

Navient Company Profile

Navient Corporation (NASDAQ: NAVI) is a U.S.-based provider of education finance and business processing solutions. The company’s activities include originating and servicing private education loans, providing loan asset management services, and supporting government and commercial clients with administrative and customer-service functions.

Navient traces its history to the creation of the Student Loan Marketing Association, commonly known as Sallie Mae, in 1972. In 2014, Sallie Mae separated its consumer banking and education-finance operations from its government-guaranteed student loan servicing business.