Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Invests $789,000 in Navient Co. (NASDAQ:NAVI)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in shares of Navient Co. (NASDAQ:NAVI) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 42,400 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $789,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in NAVI. CWM LLC boosted its position in Navient by 314.6% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,193 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 1,664 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in Navient by 165.1% during the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 70,393 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,212,000 after buying an additional 43,843 shares during the period. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC boosted its position 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 valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 1,111 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its position in Navient by 367.7% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 6,795 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $117,000 after buying an additional 5,342 shares during the period. Finally, Meritage Portfolio Management boosted its position in Navient by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management now owns 29,612 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $510,000 after buying an additional 1,540 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.14% of the company’s stock.

Navient Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of Navient stock opened at $15.72 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 18.38, a current ratio of 12.52 and a quick ratio of 13.63. The company has a 50-day moving average of $16.54 and a 200 day moving average of $17.09. The firm has a market cap of $1.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.08 and a beta of 1.38. Navient Co. has a 1 year low of $14.10 and a 1 year high of $19.69.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The credit services provider reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $163.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $188.04 million. Navient had a net margin of 3.93% and a return on equity of 12.09%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Navient Co. will post 1.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Navient Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.07%. Navient’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.03%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NAVI has been the subject of several analyst reports. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Navient from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Navient from $19.00 to $17.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Navient from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Navient from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Navient from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have given a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Navient has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $16.10.

Insider Buying and Selling at Navient

In other Navient news, EVP Mark L. Heleen sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, 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 document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 27.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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 on its portfolios, as well as federal education loans held by other institutions.