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

Key Points

• Navient Corporation has received an average rating of "Reduce" from nine brokerages, with four analysts recommending a sell and one giving a strong buy.
• The company missed earnings expectations for the last quarter, reporting a $0.21 EPS compared to the consensus estimate of $0.27, while the revenue was slightly below expectations as well.
• Navient declared a quarterly dividend of $0.16 per share, representing a 5.0% dividend yield, but its payout ratio is quite high at 206.45%.

Shares of Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus rating of "Reduce" from the nine ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $13.0625.

NAVI has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Navient from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of Navient from $16.50 to $15.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Bank of America cut shares of Navient from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating and set a $12.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Navient from $12.50 to $15.50 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Navient

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd raised its stake in shares of Navient by 23.2% during the 2nd quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 2,848,718 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $40,167,000 after purchasing an additional 536,933 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Navient by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,021,710 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $28,506,000 after purchasing an additional 66,814 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Navient by 10.9% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,459,166 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $18,429,000 after purchasing an additional 143,325 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Navient by 32.6% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,439,903 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $18,186,000 after purchasing an additional 353,898 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Navient by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 907,116 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $11,457,000 after purchasing an additional 27,340 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.14% of the company's stock.

Navient Stock Performance

Shares of NAVI opened at $12.85 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.52, a quick ratio of 9.94 and a current ratio of 9.94. Navient has a twelve month low of $10.53 and a twelve month high of $16.15. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $13.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $13.20. The firm has a market cap of $1.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.45 and a beta of 1.35.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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 net margin of 0.89% and a return on equity of 4.08%. The company had revenue of $156.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $156.20 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.29 EPS. Navient has set its FY 2025 guidance at 0.950-1.050 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Navient will post 1.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Navient Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. Navient's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 206.45%.

About Navient

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.

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