Highbridge Capital Management LLC Buys New Position in Navient Corporation $NAVI

Highbridge Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 65,000 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $845,000. Highbridge Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.07% of Navient at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Navient by 70.5% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,978 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 818 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Navient by 39.2% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,228 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 1,191 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Navient by 3,045.4% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 5,127 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 4,964 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Navient by 88.0% in the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 5,754 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $75,000 after acquiring an additional 2,693 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Danske Bank A S bought a new stake in shares of Navient in the 4th quarter worth approximately $86,000. 97.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Navient Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ NAVI opened at $7.81 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 7.67, a current ratio of 7.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.49. Navient Corporation has a 52 week low of $7.33 and a 52 week high of $16.07. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $8.43 and its 200 day moving average is $10.08. The company has a market cap of $734.06 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.40 and a beta of 1.20.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit services provider reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.03. Navient had a negative net margin of 1.94% and a positive return on equity of 4.39%. The company had revenue of $152.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $141.47 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.25 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Navient Corporation will post 0.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Navient Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 19th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be paid a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. Navient’s payout ratio is presently -101.59%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NAVI has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Navient from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 30th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Navient from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Navient from $12.00 to $9.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Navient in a report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Navient in a report on Monday, April 20th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $7.00 price objective for the company. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $9.29.

Navient 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.