Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI) Stock Has Average Price Target of $8.08

Key Points

• Analysts remain bearish on Navient: Eight analysts give the stock an average “Reduce” rating, split between four sells and four holds. The average one-year price target is $8.08, below the reported share price of $9.04.
• Several brokerages recently lowered their price targets, including Barclays to $7.00 and JPMorgan to $8.00, while maintaining underweight or neutral ratings.
• Navient exceeded quarterly earnings expectations with EPS of $0.29 versus a $0.20 consensus and revenue of $150 million, but reported a negative net margin. The company paid a quarterly dividend of $0.16 per share, implying a 7.1% annualized yield.

Shares of Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI - Get Free Report) have received an average recommendation of "Reduce" from the eight analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and four have assigned a hold recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $8.08.

A number of brokerages have recently commented on NAVI. TD Cowen reaffirmed a "sell" rating on shares of Navient in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Navient from $8.00 to $7.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d)" rating on shares of Navient in a research report on Monday, September 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Navient from $9.50 to $8.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 13th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Navient

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in Navient by 552.6% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 4,855 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 4,111 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Navient by 325.6% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 5,005 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 3,829 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new stake in shares of Navient during the first quarter worth $72,000. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Navient in the second quarter valued at about $87,000. Finally, Greenwood Gearhart LLC acquired a new position in Navient during the 1st quarter worth approximately $84,000. 97.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Navient Stock Performance

NAVI opened at $9.04 on Tuesday. Navient has a 52-week low of $7.33 and a 52-week high of $13.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.73, a quick ratio of 10.53 and a current ratio of 10.53. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $9.23 and a 200-day moving average of $8.67. The company has a market cap of $847.81 million, a PE ratio of -18.08 and a beta of 1.15.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The credit services provider reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $150.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $142.87 million. Navient had a negative net margin of 1.64% and a positive return on equity of 4.68%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.20 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Navient will post 0.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Navient Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 4th were given a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.1%. Navient's payout ratio is currently -128.00%.

Navient Company Profile

Navient Corporation is a financial services company that provides education finance and loan management solutions. Its activities include servicing and managing private education loans and federally backed loans held in its portfolio, as well as providing related customer support, payment processing and account administration services.

The company was formed in 2014 through the separation of Sallie Mae's education-lending and loan-servicing businesses. Navient formerly serviced a significant portion of the federal student loan portfolio, but it exited the U.S.

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