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

Key Points

• Analysts rate Navient “Reduce”: Four of nine analysts recommend selling the stock and five recommend holding it. The average 12-month price target is $9.14, with JPMorgan recently cutting its target to $8.00.
• Navient exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $0.29 in EPS on $150 million in revenue versus consensus estimates of $0.20 EPS and $142.87 million in revenue.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.16 per share, equal to an annualized yield of approximately 7.0%; institutional investors own 97.14% of the stock.

Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus recommendation of "Reduce" by the nine research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a hold rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $9.1429.

Several brokerages have issued reports on NAVI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Navient from $9.50 to $8.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 13th. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d)" rating on shares of Navient in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a "sell" rating on shares of Navient in a research note on Friday, August 7th.

Navient Price Performance

Shares of NAVI stock opened at $9.15 on Friday. The business's fifty day moving average is $8.92 and its 200 day moving average is $8.57. The company has a quick ratio of 10.53, a current ratio of 10.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.73. The stock has a market cap of $858.09 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -18.30 and a beta of 1.18. Navient has a twelve month low of $7.33 and a twelve month high of $13.50.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The credit services provider reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $150.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $142.87 million. Navient had a positive return on equity of 4.68% and a negative net margin of 1.64%.During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.20 EPS. Research analysts expect that Navient will post 0.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Navient Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. Navient's dividend payout ratio is presently -128.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Navient

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Navient by 41.5% in the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,939,380 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $16,504,000 after acquiring an additional 568,590 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Navient during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,227,000. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in shares of Navient during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,530,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Navient during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,295,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of Navient in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,176,000. 97.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.

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