Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) Share Price Passes Below 200 Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Shares of Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI) crossed below its 200-day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $9.88 and traded as low as $8.06. Navient shares last traded at $8.24, with a volume of 1,271,489 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NAVI has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Navient from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Navient from $10.50 to $8.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Navient from $12.00 to $9.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Navient in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on Navient in a report on Monday, April 20th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $7.00 target price for the company. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Navient currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $9.29.

Navient Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.49, a quick ratio of 7.67 and a current ratio of 7.67. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $8.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $9.82. The stock has a market cap of $760.38 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.84 and a beta of 1.20.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit services provider reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $152.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $141.47 million. Navient had a positive return on equity of 4.39% and a negative net margin of 1.94%.During the same period last year, the business posted $0.25 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Navient Corporation will post 0.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Navient Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.9%. Navient’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -101.59%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of NAVI. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Navient by 70.5% in the fourth 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. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in Navient by 325.6% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 5,005 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 3,829 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in Navient during the 4th quarter valued at $44,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 1,191 shares during the period. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its holdings in 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 valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 4,964 shares during the period. 97.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.