Navient Corporation (NAVI) – What Are Analysts Saying About This Stock?

Shares of Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the eight research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $8.08.

NAVI has been the subject of several research analyst reports. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “sell” rating on shares of Navient in a research note on Friday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Navient from $9.50 to $8.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Navient in a research report on Monday, September 21st. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on Navient from $8.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 5th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Navient by 63.1% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 50,081 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $454,000 after purchasing an additional 19,374 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in Navient by 294.1% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 35,449 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $322,000 after purchasing an additional 26,455 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Navient in the 2nd quarter valued at $212,000. WINTON GROUP Ltd grew 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 period. Finally, Engineers Gate Manager LP increased 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 valued at $1,440,000 after purchasing an additional 129,841 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.14% of the company’s stock.

Navient Price Performance

Navient stock opened at $9.11 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $854.34 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -18.22 and a beta of 1.15. Navient has a 52-week low of $7.33 and a 52-week high of $13.48. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $9.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $8.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.73, a quick ratio of 10.53 and a current ratio of 10.53.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The credit services provider reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $150.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $142.87 million. Navient had a negative net margin of 1.64% and a positive return on equity of 4.68%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.20 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Navient will post 0.80 earnings per share for the current year.

Navient Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 18th. Investors of record on Friday, September 4th were paid a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 4th. Navient’s dividend payout ratio is -128.00%.

Navient Company Profile

Navient Corporation is a financial services company that provides education finance and loan management solutions. Its activities include servicing and managing private education loans and federally backed loans held in its portfolio, as well as providing related customer support, payment processing and account administration services.

The company was formed in 2014 through the separation of Sallie Mae’s education-lending and loan-servicing businesses. Navient formerly serviced a significant portion of the federal student loan portfolio, but it exited the U.S.