Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI) Receives Consensus Rating of “Reduce” from Analysts

Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the nine brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $13.0714.

NAVI has been the subject of a number of research reports. Bank of America downgraded shares of Navient from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $12.00 price target for the company. in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Navient from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Navient in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Navient from $15.00 to $14.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on Navient from $15.00 to $14.50 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 1st.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Navient

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Navient by 79.0% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,525 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 1,114 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in Navient during the first quarter worth about $40,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new position in Navient during the first quarter worth about $71,000. Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in Navient by 15.7% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 7,303 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $92,000 after purchasing an additional 993 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Navient by 77.0% in the 2nd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 7,766 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $109,000 after purchasing an additional 3,378 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.14% of the company’s stock.

Navient Stock Performance

NAVI opened at $12.39 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 9.94, a current ratio of 9.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.52. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $13.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $13.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.97 and a beta of 1.34. Navient has a 12-month low of $10.53 and a 12-month high of $16.15.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 28th. The credit services provider reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter. Navient had a return on equity of 4.08% and a net margin of 0.89%.The company had revenue of $511.00 million during the quarter. On average, equities analysts forecast that Navient will post 1.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Navient Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 19th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th were given a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. Navient’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 206.45%.

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.