Navient Co. (NASDAQ:NAVI) Receives Average Rating of “Reduce” from Analysts

Shares of Navient Co. (NASDAQ:NAVI) have earned an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the nine brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $16.67.

NAVI has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Navient from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $18.00 to $17.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Stephens downgraded Navient from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $16.00 target price for the company. in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. StockNews.com cut Navient from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Citigroup boosted their price target on Navient from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $14.00 target price (down previously from $17.00) on shares of Navient in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th.

Insider Activity at Navient

In other Navient news, EVP Mark L. Heleen sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.20, for a total transaction of $172,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 385,577 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,631,924.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 26.93% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in shares of Navient by 27.4% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 16,272,912 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $302,351,000 after buying an additional 3,502,330 shares during the period. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. lifted its position in shares of Navient by 31.5% during the fourth quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 3,586,501 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $66,781,000 after purchasing an additional 858,890 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd bought a new position in shares of Navient during the fourth quarter worth about $13,546,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its holdings in 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. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Navient by 32.9% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,891,365 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $31,113,000 after acquiring an additional 467,779 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.14% of the company’s stock.

Navient Stock Performance

NASDAQ NAVI opened at $16.26 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.82 billion, a PE ratio of 9.13 and a beta of 1.38. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $16.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.13. Navient has a 1-year low of $14.10 and a 1-year high of $19.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 19.35, a current ratio of 13.64 and a quick ratio of 13.63.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The credit services provider reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by ($0.07). Navient had a return on equity of 14.17% and a net margin of 4.72%. The company had revenue of $193.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $210.76 million. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Navient will post 2.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Navient Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.94%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. Navient’s payout ratio is currently 35.96%.

About Navient

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.