Victory Capital Management Inc. Sells 31,901 Shares of Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI)

Key Points

• Victory Capital Management Inc. reduced its stake in Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI) by 10.2%, now owning approximately 279,358 shares valued at $3.5 million.
• Analysts have varied opinions on Navient's stock, with recent downgrades from Jefferies Financial and TD Cowen, while JPMorgan raised its price target from $12.50 to $15.50.
• Navient declared a quarterly dividend of $0.16, marking an annual yield of 4.55%, although its payout ratio is a high 128.00%.

Victory Capital Management Inc. decreased its position in Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI - Free Report) by 10.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 279,358 shares of the credit services provider's stock after selling 31,901 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned approximately 0.28% of Navient worth $3,528,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Navient during the fourth quarter valued at about $167,000. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Navient by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,822,583 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $24,222,000 after buying an additional 109,229 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in shares of Navient in the fourth quarter worth about $432,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp lifted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $1,060,000 after buying an additional 3,541 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Navient by 143.0% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 356,405 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $4,737,000 after buying an additional 209,744 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.14% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Navient from $12.50 to $15.50 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. TD Securities raised their target price on shares of Navient from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. TD Cowen cut shares of Navient from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Navient from $16.50 to $15.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Navient from $14.00 to $12.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Navient currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $13.50.

Navient Stock Up 2.1%

Shares of NAVI traded up $0.27 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $12.95. The company had a trading volume of 216,501 shares, compared to its average volume of 802,350. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $14.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $13.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.56, a quick ratio of 9.88 and a current ratio of 9.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.82 and a beta of 1.40. Navient Corporation has a 52-week low of $10.53 and a 52-week high of $16.97.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The credit services provider reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.27 by ($0.06). Navient had a return on equity of 5.20% and a net margin of 1.37%. The business had revenue of $156.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $156.20 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.29 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Navient Corporation will post 1.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Navient Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th were paid a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 6th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.94%. Navient's dividend payout ratio is currently 128.00%.

Navient 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.