Nelnet (NYSE:NNI) Shares Gap Down After Earnings Miss

Nelnet, Inc. (NYSE:NNI)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Friday following a dissappointing earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $141.36, but opened at $132.22. Nelnet shares last traded at $129.0210, with a volume of 40,878 shares trading hands.

The credit services provider reported $1.94 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.66 by ($0.72). The company had revenue of $419.06 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $443.84 million. Nelnet had a net margin of 18.99% and a return on equity of 12.43%.

Nelnet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st will be paid a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 1st. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Nelnet’s dividend payout ratio is 11.21%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NNI has been the topic of several research reports. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Nelnet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Weiss Ratings upgraded Nelnet from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Nelnet in a report on Thursday, January 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Nelnet currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $140.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its holdings in shares of Nelnet by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 8,742 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,162,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its position in Nelnet by 6.5% during the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,353 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $164,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its position in Nelnet by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 16,336 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,048,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Nelnet by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,050 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $257,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in Nelnet by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 19,158 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,402,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 33.51% of the company’s stock.

Nelnet Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average is $133.31 and its 200-day moving average is $132.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.81 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 28.27, a quick ratio of 28.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.18.

Nelnet Company Profile

Nelnet, Inc (NYSE: NNI) is a diversified education services company founded in 1978 and headquartered in Lincoln, Nebraska. Originally established as the National Education Loan Network by Michael S. Dunlap, the company has grown into a prominent provider of student loan servicing and education finance solutions in the United States.

At the core of Nelnet’s business is student loan servicing, where it administers and manages federal and private education loans on behalf of borrowers and lending partners.