Teacher Retirement System of Texas Makes New $149,000 Investment in Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas acquired a new position in shares of Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 11,786 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $149,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Navient by 815.0% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 2,443 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 2,176 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Navient by 2,663.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,096 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $102,000 after acquiring an additional 7,803 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Navient by 55.9% during the 1st quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 10,608 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $134,000 after acquiring an additional 3,802 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Navient during the 4th quarter valued at about $167,000. Finally, Brevan Howard Capital Management LP increased its holdings in Navient by 16.3% during the 4th quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP now owns 12,877 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $171,000 after acquiring an additional 1,804 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.14% of the company’s stock.

Navient Stock Down 1.8%

NAVI stock opened at $14.13 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 9.88, a quick ratio of 9.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.43 billion, a PE ratio of 28.26 and a beta of 1.40. Navient Corporation has a 1-year low of $10.53 and a 1-year high of $16.97. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $13.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $13.39.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.09. Navient had a return on equity of 5.20% and a net margin of 1.37%. The company had revenue of $156.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $150.40 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.47 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Navient Corporation will post 1.04 EPS for the current year.

Navient Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th were given a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 6th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.53%. Navient’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 128.00%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on NAVI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Navient from $12.50 to $15.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. TD Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Navient from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Navient from $14.00 to $12.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Navient from $14.00 to $16.50 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, TD Cowen downgraded shares of Navient from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Navient presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $13.71.

Navient 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.