Navient Co. (NASDAQ:NAVI) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Reduce” from Brokerages

Shares of Navient Co. (NASDAQ:NAVI) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the nine brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and six have issued a hold recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $16.67.

Several brokerages have weighed in on NAVI. StockNews.com cut shares of Navient from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. TD Cowen cut shares of Navient from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $17.00 to $15.00 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Barclays restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $14.00 target price (down from $17.00) on shares of Navient in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Navient from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $18.00 to $17.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Stephens cut shares of Navient from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $16.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Navient

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NAVI. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Navient by 277.8% during the 3rd quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC now owns 1,511 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 1,111 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new stake in Navient during the 1st quarter worth approximately $36,000. CWM LLC grew its holdings in Navient by 314.6% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,193 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 1,664 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP boosted its stake in shares of Navient by 299.1% in the 1st quarter. Quarry LP now owns 2,530 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 1,896 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in shares of Navient during the fourth quarter worth $62,000. 97.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Navient Stock Performance

Shares of NAVI stock opened at $16.26 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.13 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 19.35, a quick ratio of 13.63 and a current ratio of 13.64. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $16.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $17.13. Navient has a 52 week low of $14.10 and a 52 week high of $19.69.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The credit services provider reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.77 by ($0.07). Navient had a return on equity of 14.17% and a net margin of 4.72%. The business had revenue of $193.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $210.76 million. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Navient will post 2.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Navient Announces Dividend

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

Navient Company Profile

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.