Traders Purchase High Volume of Put Options on Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI)

Navient Co. (NASDAQ:NAVI) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders purchased 24,000 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 6,102% compared to the average volume of 387 put options.

Navient Price Performance

Navient stock opened at $17.36 on Wednesday. Navient has a 52 week low of $12.88 and a 52 week high of $19.69. The firm has a market cap of $2.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.97 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 19.43, a quick ratio of 12.78 and a current ratio of 12.78. The business’s fifty day moving average is $18.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $17.11.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 26th. The credit services provider reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.76 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $1.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $228.53 million. Navient had a return on equity of 14.62% and a net margin of 8.51%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.92 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Navient will post 3.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Navient Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 31st. Navient’s dividend payout ratio is 21.99%.

Insider Activity at Navient

In other Navient news, EVP Mark L. Heleen sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.01, for a total value of $380,200.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 404,056 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,681,104.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 26.93% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of NAVI. Virginia Retirement Systems ET AL acquired a new position in Navient during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,035,000. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lifted its position in Navient by 53.0% during the 2nd quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 27,218 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $506,000 after purchasing an additional 9,425 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its position in Navient by 62.8% during the 2nd quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 66,953 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,244,000 after purchasing an additional 25,821 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors L.P. lifted its position in Navient by 51.5% during the 2nd quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 29,319 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $545,000 after purchasing an additional 9,968 shares during the period. Finally, Caxton Associates LP lifted its stake in shares of Navient by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. Caxton Associates LP now owns 40,144 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $746,000 after purchasing an additional 1,888 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.85% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on NAVI. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Navient in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Navient from $17.00 to $19.00 in a report on Friday, July 7th. Finally, Compass Point decreased their target price on shares of Navient from $19.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $18.05.

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 and asset recovery services on its own loan portfolio, as well as federal education loans held by other institutions.