D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Raises Holdings in Navient Co. (NASDAQ:NAVI)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in Navient Co. (NASDAQ:NAVI) by 46.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 725,244 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 228,385 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Navient were worth $9,638,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Caption Management LLC bought a new stake in Navient in the 4th quarter worth about $850,000. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Navient by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 917,232 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $12,190,000 after acquiring an additional 22,765 shares during the period. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP raised its holdings in shares of Navient by 16.3% during the fourth quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP now owns 12,877 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $171,000 after purchasing an additional 1,804 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors purchased a new position in shares of Navient during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $199,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in Navient by 69.4% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 667,372 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $8,869,000 after purchasing an additional 273,483 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on NAVI. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Navient from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Navient from $14.00 to $12.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Navient from $11.00 to $12.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities increased their target price on Navient from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, StockNews.com cut Navient from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Navient presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $12.93.

Navient Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of NAVI stock opened at $13.74 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.35, a current ratio of 9.48 and a quick ratio of 9.49. The company has a market cap of $1.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.84 and a beta of 1.38. Navient Co. has a 1 year low of $10.53 and a 1 year high of $16.97. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $12.43 and a 200-day moving average price of $13.62.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $156.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $150.40 million. Navient had a return on equity of 6.69% and a net margin of 2.96%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.47 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Navient Co. will post 1.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Navient Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.66%. Navient’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 128.00%.

Navient Company Profile

Navient Corporation provides technology-enabled education finance and business processing solutions for education, health care, and government clients in the United States. It operates through three segments: Federal Education Loans, Consumer Lending, and Business Processing. The company owns Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) loans that are insured or guaranteed by state or not-for-profit agencies; and performs servicing on its portfolios, as well as federal education loans held by other institutions.