Dark Forest Capital Management LP Takes Position in Navient Co. (NASDAQ:NAVI)

Dark Forest Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Navient Co. (NASDAQ:NAVI - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 24,118 shares of the credit services provider's stock, valued at approximately $321,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Navient by 815.0% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 2,443 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 2,176 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its stake in Navient by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 47,774 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $635,000 after purchasing an additional 2,190 shares during the last quarter. Xponance Inc. raised its holdings in Navient by 12.9% during the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 23,460 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $312,000 after purchasing an additional 2,687 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Navient by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 374,879 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $4,982,000 after acquiring an additional 3,445 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp lifted its position in Navient by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 79,760 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $1,060,000 after acquiring an additional 3,541 shares during the last quarter. 97.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NAVI has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on Navient from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 31st. TD Cowen lowered Navient from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Thursday. StockNews.com cut shares of Navient from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Navient from $11.00 to $12.50 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, TD Securities lifted their price target on Navient from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $12.93.

Navient Price Performance

Shares of Navient stock traded up $0.23 during trading on Friday, hitting $12.76. 541,899 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 775,340. The company has a market cap of $1.29 billion, a PE ratio of 11.00 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.35, a current ratio of 9.48 and a quick ratio of 9.49. Navient Co. has a twelve month low of $10.53 and a twelve month high of $16.97. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $12.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $13.77.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $156.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $150.40 million. Navient had a return on equity of 6.69% and a net margin of 2.96%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.47 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Navient Co. will post 1.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Navient Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.02%. Navient's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 55.17%.

Navient Company Profile

Navient Corporation provides technology-enabled education finance and business processing solutions for education, health care, and government clients in the United States. It operates through three segments: Federal Education Loans, Consumer Lending, and Business Processing. The company owns Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) loans that are insured or guaranteed by state or not-for-profit agencies; and performs servicing on its portfolios, as well as federal education loans held by other institutions.