Man Group plc Makes New Investment in Navient Corporation $NAVI

Key Points

• Man Group plc acquired 477,613 Navient shares in the second quarter, valued at approximately $4.1 million and representing about 0.51% of the company. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 97.14% of NAVI.
• Analyst sentiment remains negative: Navient has an average “Reduce” rating, with five Hold ratings and four Sell ratings, and a consensus price target of $9.14 after JPMorgan cut its target to $8.00.
• Navient beat quarterly earnings expectations with $0.29 in EPS versus $0.20 forecast and $150 million in revenue, while announcing a quarterly dividend of $0.16 per share, equivalent to a 6.8% annualized yield.

Man Group plc bought a new position in shares of Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 477,613 shares of the credit services provider's stock, valued at approximately $4,064,000. Man Group plc owned approximately 0.51% of Navient as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of NAVI. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its position in Navient by 325.6% during the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 5,005 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 3,829 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in Navient by 552.6% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 4,855 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 4,111 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Navient during the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Navient by 39.2% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,228 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 1,191 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its position in shares of Navient by 3,045.4% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 5,127 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 4,964 shares in the last quarter. 97.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on NAVI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Navient from $9.50 to $8.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 13th. TD Cowen reiterated a "sell" rating on shares of Navient in a report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d)" rating on shares of Navient in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Reduce" and a consensus target price of $9.14.

Navient Price Performance

NAVI stock opened at $9.46 on Monday. Navient Corporation has a 52-week low of $7.33 and a 52-week high of $13.87. The company has a quick ratio of 10.53, a current ratio of 10.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.73. The stock has a market cap of $887.16 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -18.92 and a beta of 1.18. The business has a fifty day moving average of $8.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $8.57.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The credit services provider reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $150.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $142.87 million. Navient had a positive return on equity of 4.68% and a negative net margin of 1.64%.During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.20 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Navient Corporation will post 0.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Navient Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. Navient's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -128.00%.

About Navient

Navient Corporation NASDAQ: NAVI is a specialized provider of asset management and business processing solutions, with a primary focus on student loan servicing. Established in 2014 through the separation from Sallie Mae, Navient assumed responsibility for servicing federal and private education loans, positioning itself as one of the largest servicers of higher education debt in the United States.

The company's core activities center on federal student loan servicing under contracts with the U.S.

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