Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) Cut to “Strong Sell” at Zacks Research

Zacks Research downgraded shares of Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) from a hold rating to a strong sell rating in a research report released on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on NAVI. Barclays set a $9.00 target price on Navient in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Navient from $14.00 to $12.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Navient from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley set a $12.00 target price on shares of Navient in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on shares of Navient from $15.00 to $9.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and six have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Strong Sell” and a consensus target price of $11.63.

Navient Trading Up 0.4%

NAVI opened at $10.05 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $979.98 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.26 and a beta of 1.32. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $12.34 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $12.64. Navient has a 1-year low of $9.35 and a 1-year high of $16.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.94, a current ratio of 9.01 and a quick ratio of 9.41.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The credit services provider reported $0.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by ($0.29). Navient had a negative net margin of 2.47% and a positive return on equity of 4.70%. The company had revenue of $137.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $144.25 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.24) earnings per share. Navient has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.650-0.800 EPS. Analysts expect that Navient will post 1.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Navient Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 19th. Investors of record on Friday, December 5th were given a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 5th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.4%. Navient’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -78.05%.

Institutional Trading of Navient

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd boosted its position in shares of Navient by 23.2% during the second quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 2,848,718 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $40,167,000 after buying an additional 536,933 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Navient by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,159,730 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $28,400,000 after acquiring an additional 138,020 shares during the period. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC grew its position in Navient by 790.1% in the 3rd quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC now owns 1,590,339 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $20,913,000 after acquiring an additional 1,411,662 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Navient by 0.5% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,462,585 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $19,233,000 after purchasing an additional 7,284 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Navient by 70.0% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 888,186 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $11,680,000 after purchasing an additional 365,677 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.14% of the company’s stock.

About Navient

Navient Corporation (NASDAQ: NAVI) is a specialized provider of asset management and business processing solutions, with a primary focus on student loan servicing. Established in 2014 through the separation from Sallie Mae, Navient assumed responsibility for servicing federal and private education loans, positioning itself as one of the largest servicers of higher education debt in the United States.

The company’s core activities center on federal student loan servicing under contracts with the U.S.