Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Cuts Position in Nelnet, Inc. $NNI

Key Points

• Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. has reduced its stake in Nelnet, Inc. by 0.2%, now holding over 1.2 million shares, which represent 4.2% of its investment portfolio.
• Nelnet recently announced an increase in its quarterly dividend from $0.28 to $0.30 per share, reflecting a 0.9% yield annually, with a payout ratio currently at 13.29%.
• Wall Street analysts have upgraded Nelnet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy," with predicted earnings per share of $4.52 for the current year.

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. reduced its position in Nelnet, Inc. (NYSE:NNI - Free Report) by 0.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,202,262 shares of the credit services provider's stock after selling 2,536 shares during the period. Nelnet makes up 4.2% of Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. owned about 3.31% of Nelnet worth $145,618,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Nelnet by 14.5% during the 2nd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 772 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $94,000 after buying an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Nelnet by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 11,395 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $1,217,000 after buying an additional 188 shares during the period. KBC Group NV purchased a new position in shares of Nelnet during the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Nelnet by 576.5% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 460 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 392 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RMR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Nelnet by 10.4% in the first quarter. RMR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,453 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $494,000 after acquiring an additional 418 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 33.51% of the company's stock.

Nelnet Price Performance

Shares of NNI stock opened at $127.11 on Monday. Nelnet, Inc. has a 52-week low of $98.15 and a 52-week high of $136.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.27, a quick ratio of 29.41 and a current ratio of 29.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.08 and a beta of 0.87. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $125.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $117.33.

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

Nelnet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This is a boost 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 yield of 0.9%. Nelnet's dividend payout ratio is presently 13.29%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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 stock was 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 can be accessed through 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 value of $5,000,033.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 510 shares in the company, valued at $60,817.50. This represents a 98.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 50,125 shares of company stock valued at $6,056,252. 50.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Nelnet Profile

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.

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