StockNews.com Upgrades Nelnet (NYSE:NNI) to “Buy”

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Nelnet (NYSE:NNI) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Tuesday.

Nelnet Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:NNI opened at $118.72 on Tuesday. Nelnet has a 52 week low of $87.02 and a 52 week high of $127.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.78, a quick ratio of 31.47 and a current ratio of 31.47. The company has a market cap of $4.31 billion, a PE ratio of 39.05 and a beta of 0.91. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $110.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $111.00.

Nelnet (NYSE:NNI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The credit services provider reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.23 by $0.21. Nelnet had a net margin of 5.54% and a return on equity of 3.78%. The company had revenue of $401.61 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $335.00 million. As a group, research analysts expect that Nelnet will post 4.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Nelnet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.94%. Nelnet’s payout ratio is 22.40%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NNI. Creative Planning raised its holdings in shares of Nelnet by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 4,758 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $539,000 after purchasing an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Nelnet by 60.0% during the 3rd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 5,434 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $616,000 after purchasing an additional 2,038 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Nelnet by 13.9% during the 3rd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,468 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $506,000 after purchasing an additional 546 shares in the last quarter. RMR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Nelnet by 32.9% during the 3rd quarter. RMR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,035 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $457,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Nelnet by 34,283.3% during the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 2,063 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $234,000 after purchasing an additional 2,057 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 33.51% of the company’s stock.

Nelnet Company Profile

Nelnet, Inc engages in loan servicing, communications, education technology, services, and payment processing businesses worldwide. The Loan Servicing and Systems segment provides loan conversion, application processing, borrower updates, customer service, payment processing, due diligence procedures, funds management reconciliation, and claim processing services.