Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI) Receives $10.88 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI) has received a consensus rating of “Reduce” from the eleven research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have given a hold rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $10.50.

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Navient from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Navient from $12.00 to $9.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Navient from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 7th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Navient from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Navient in a report on Friday, March 27th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Navient

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NAVI. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Navient by 70.5% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,978 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 818 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in Navient by 79.0% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,525 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 1,114 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in Navient in the fourth quarter worth approximately $44,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Navient by 39.2% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,228 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 1,191 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its holdings in Navient by 3,045.4% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 5,127 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 4,964 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.14% of the company’s stock.

Navient Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NAVI opened at $8.38 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $796.85 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.22 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $8.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $11.02. The company has a current ratio of 9.01, a quick ratio of 9.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.94. Navient has a 12 month low of $7.80 and a 12 month high of $16.07.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. 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 2.47% and a positive return on equity of 4.70%. The company 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 firm earned ($0.24) EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Navient will post 1.04 EPS for the current year.

Navient Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 6th were issued a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 6th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.6%. Navient’s dividend payout ratio is presently -78.05%.

About Navient

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.