Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI) Given Consensus Rating of “Reduce” by Analysts

Shares of Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the nine research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and five have given a hold recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $9.2857.

Several equities analysts have issued reports on NAVI shares. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Navient in a research report on Monday, April 20th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $7.00 price target for the company. Zacks Research raised shares of Navient from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 30th. Barclays increased their price objective on Navient from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Navient from $12.00 to $9.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Navient from $10.50 to $8.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 9th.

Institutional Trading of Navient

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NAVI. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Navient by 70.5% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,978 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 818 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Navient by 325.6% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 5,005 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 3,829 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Navient by 552.6% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 4,855 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 4,111 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Navient in the 4th quarter valued at $44,000. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Navient by 39.2% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,228 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 1,191 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.14% of the company’s stock.

Navient Stock Performance

Navient stock opened at $8.61 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $8.36 and a 200-day moving average of $9.52. Navient has a 1 year low of $7.33 and a 1 year high of $16.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.49, a current ratio of 7.67 and a quick ratio of 7.67. The company has a market capitalization of $809.25 million, a P/E ratio of -13.67 and a beta of 1.19.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit services provider reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.03. Navient had a negative net margin of 1.94% and a positive return on equity of 4.39%. The business had revenue of $152.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $141.47 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.25 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Navient will post 0.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Navient Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 19th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th were paid a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. Navient’s payout ratio is currently -101.59%.

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.