Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) Trading Down 6.6% – Should You Sell?

Shares of Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI) fell 6.6% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $8.55 and last traded at $8.4830. 721,454 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 33% from the average session volume of 1,081,923 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.08.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on NAVI shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Navient in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. TD Cowen restated a “sell” rating on shares of Navient in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Navient from $9.50 to $8.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Bank of America initiated coverage on Navient in a research report on Monday, April 20th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $7.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Navient from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $9.14.

Navient Price Performance

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $8.39 and a 200-day moving average of $8.70. The stock has a market cap of $802.67 million, a PE ratio of -17.08 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.73, a current ratio of 10.53 and a quick ratio of 7.67.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The credit services provider reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.09. Navient had a positive return on equity of 4.68% and a negative net margin of 1.64%.The business had revenue of $150.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $142.87 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.20 EPS. Research analysts predict that Navient Corporation will post 0.75 EPS for the current year.

Navient Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 19th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th were paid a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. Navient’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -128.00%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NAVI. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Navient in the second quarter worth about $110,235,000. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd grew its holdings in Navient by 23.2% during the 2nd quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 2,848,718 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $40,167,000 after buying an additional 536,933 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Navient by 20.2% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,484,742 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $32,302,000 after acquiring an additional 418,161 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Navient by 37.8% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,543,796 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $20,069,000 after acquiring an additional 423,381 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Navient by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,499,113 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $19,488,000 after acquiring an additional 36,528 shares during the last quarter. 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.