Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI) Given Average Rating of "Reduce" by Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts maintain a “Reduce” consensus rating on Navient, with four sell ratings and five holds. The average 12-month price target is $9.14, close to the stock’s reported $9.17 opening price.
• Navient exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $0.29 EPS versus a $0.20 consensus and revenue of $150 million versus $142.87 million expected.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.16, equating to a 7.0% annualized yield; institutional investors own 97.14% of the stock.

Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI - Get Free Report) has received a consensus rating of "Reduce" from the nine research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and five have issued a hold recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $9.1429.

Several research firms have commented on NAVI. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d)" rating on shares of Navient in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Navient from $9.50 to $8.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Navient from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. TD Cowen reiterated a "sell" rating on shares of Navient in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Navient in a research note on Monday, April 20th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $7.00 price objective for the company.

Navient Stock Performance

Shares of NAVI opened at $9.17 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $859.96 million, a PE ratio of -18.34 and a beta of 1.18. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $8.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $8.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.73, a current ratio of 10.53 and a quick ratio of 10.53. Navient has a 1 year low of $7.33 and a 1 year high of $13.87.

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

Navient Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 4th will be given a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.0%. Navient's payout ratio is -128.00%.

Institutional Trading of Navient

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NAVI. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Navient by 6.8% during the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 18,372 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $259,000 after acquiring an additional 1,168 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Navient by 39.2% in the 4th 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 during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Navient by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 322,085 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $2,635,000 after purchasing an additional 1,354 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its position in shares of Navient by 4.4% during the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 38,948 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $319,000 after purchasing an additional 1,654 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its position in shares of Navient by 15.7% during the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 12,604 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $164,000 after purchasing an additional 1,706 shares in the last quarter. 97.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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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