LSV Asset Management Lowers Holdings in Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI)

Key Points

• LSV Asset Management has reduced its stake in Navient Corporation by 12%, holding approximately 3.9 million shares valued at $49.4 million after selling over half a million shares.
• Navient reported a missed earnings estimate for the last quarter, with an EPS of $0.21 versus the consensus estimate of $0.27, and a revenue of $156 million, slightly below analyst expectations.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.16, with a high dividend payout ratio of 206.45% and an annualized yield of 5.1%.

LSV Asset Management reduced its position in Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI - Free Report) by 12.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,915,238 shares of the credit services provider's stock after selling 533,987 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management owned about 3.87% of Navient worth $49,449,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of NAVI. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Navient by 14.6% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,567,466 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $20,832,000 after buying an additional 199,937 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Navient by 47.4% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,315,841 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $17,488,000 after buying an additional 423,013 shares during the last quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Navient by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 917,232 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $12,190,000 after buying an additional 22,765 shares during the last quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. grew its stake in shares of Navient by 46.0% during the fourth quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 725,244 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $9,638,000 after buying an additional 228,385 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of Navient by 69.4% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 667,372 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $8,869,000 after buying an additional 273,483 shares during the last quarter. 97.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Navient Stock Performance

Shares of NAVI stock traded up $0.02 during trading on Thursday, reaching $12.47. 45,577 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 819,613. The company has a market capitalization of $1.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.19 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a current ratio of 9.94, a quick ratio of 9.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.52. The firm's 50-day moving average is $13.93 and its 200 day moving average is $13.39. Navient Corporation has a 1 year low of $10.53 and a 1 year high of $16.97.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The credit services provider reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.27 by ($0.06). Navient had a net margin of 0.89% and a return on equity of 4.08%. The business had revenue of $156.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $156.20 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.29 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Navient Corporation will post 1.04 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NAVI has been the topic of several analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Navient from $14.00 to $12.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. TD Cowen lowered shares of Navient from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Navient from $12.50 to $15.50 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. TD Securities upped their price objective on shares of Navient from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Navient from $16.50 to $15.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Navient currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $13.56.

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.