Avity Investment Management Inc. Buys Shares of 5,008 Nelnet, Inc. $NNI

Key Points

• Avity Investment Management Inc. invested approximately $607,000 in Nelnet, purchasing 5,008 shares during the second quarter.
• Nelnet recently announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.30, with a dividend yield of 1.0% and a payout ratio of 13.29%.
• Equities analysts have upgraded Nelnet to a "strong-buy" rating, indicating positive expectations for the company's stock performance.

Avity Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Nelnet, Inc. (NYSE:NNI - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 5,008 shares of the credit services provider's stock, valued at approximately $607,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Nelnet by 13.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,535,569 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $170,341,000 after acquiring an additional 187,813 shares in the last quarter. Sycale Advisors NY LLC boosted its stake in shares of Nelnet by 26.7% during the 4th quarter. Sycale Advisors NY LLC now owns 258,038 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $27,561,000 after acquiring an additional 54,380 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Nelnet in the 1st quarter valued at $4,429,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Nelnet by 13,657.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 34,943 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $3,876,000 after purchasing an additional 34,689 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG boosted its position in shares of Nelnet by 209.0% in the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 39,074 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $4,334,000 after purchasing an additional 26,429 shares during the period. 33.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Nelnet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th.

Nelnet Stock Down 1.6%

Shares of Nelnet stock traded down $2.08 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $126.29. The company's stock had a trading volume of 47,167 shares, compared to its average volume of 66,595. Nelnet, Inc. has a 1-year low of $98.15 and a 1-year high of $136.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.03 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a quick ratio of 29.41, a current ratio of 29.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.27. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $125.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $117.30.

Nelnet (NYSE:NNI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The credit services provider reported $5.05 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.91 by $3.14. The firm had revenue of $540.61 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $376.40 million. Nelnet had a return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 14.86%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Nelnet, Inc. will post 4.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Nelnet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This is an increase from Nelnet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Nelnet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.29%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Nelnet news, Director Thomas Edward Henning sold 3,102 shares of Nelnet stock in a transaction on Friday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.87, for a total transaction of $399,754.74. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Shelby J. Butterfield sold 41,929 shares of Nelnet stock in a transaction on Monday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.25, for a total transaction of $5,000,033.25. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 510 shares of the company's stock, valued at $60,817.50. This trade represents a 98.80% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 50,125 shares of company stock valued at $6,056,252 in the last three months. Company insiders own 50.90% of the company's stock.

About Nelnet

Nelnet, Inc engages in loan servicing, communications, education technology, services, and payment processing businesses worldwide. The Loan Servicing and Systems segment provides loan conversion, application processing, borrower updates, customer service, payment processing, due diligence procedures, funds management reconciliation, and claim processing services.