Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) Upgraded at Zacks Research

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

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on NAVI. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Navient in a report on Friday, March 27th. Morgan Stanley set a $12.00 price objective on shares of Navient in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Barclays set a $9.00 price objective on shares of Navient in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on shares of Navient from $15.00 to $9.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Navient from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Navient currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $11.63.

Navient Stock Performance

Shares of NAVI opened at $8.29 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.94, a quick ratio of 9.01 and a current ratio of 9.01. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $9.16 and a two-hundred day moving average of $11.37. The stock has a market cap of $788.30 million, a P/E ratio of -10.11 and a beta of 1.33. Navient has a one year low of $7.86 and a one year high of $16.07.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 27th. The credit services provider reported $0.02 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $137.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $144.25 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.24) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Navient will post 1.04 EPS for the current year.

Navient Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 6th were issued a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 6th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.7%. Navient’s dividend payout ratio is -78.05%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NAVI. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Navient by 74.0% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 31,692 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $412,000 after acquiring an additional 13,482 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its stake in shares of Navient by 15.7% in the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 12,604 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $164,000 after purchasing an additional 1,706 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of Navient by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 462,974 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $6,019,000 after purchasing an additional 18,064 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in Navient in the 4th quarter worth about $188,000. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Navient by 67.7% during the fourth quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 513,449 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $6,675,000 after purchasing an additional 207,291 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.14% of the company’s stock.

Navient Company Profile

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.