Navient Co. (NASDAQ:NAVI) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Reduce” by Brokerages

Shares of Navient Co. (NASDAQ:NAVI) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the nine analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and six have issued a hold recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $15.78.

A number of brokerages recently commented on NAVI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Navient from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Navient in a research note on Monday, September 30th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $17.00 price objective for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Navient from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Navient from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Navient

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Navient by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 16,794 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $292,000 after acquiring an additional 668 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of Navient by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 46,534 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $678,000 after acquiring an additional 722 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of Navient by 22.1% during the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 4,797 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $70,000 after acquiring an additional 869 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd grew its stake in shares of Navient by 23.1% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 6,245 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $109,000 after buying an additional 1,173 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Xponance Inc. grew its stake in shares of Navient by 11.5% in the second quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 13,944 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $203,000 after buying an additional 1,440 shares in the last quarter. 97.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Navient Trading Down 0.6 %

Navient stock opened at $15.44 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $15.51 and its 200-day moving average is $15.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.30, a quick ratio of 9.99 and a current ratio of 9.99. Navient has a 1 year low of $13.95 and a 1 year high of $19.68. The company has a market cap of $1.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.90 and a beta of 1.39.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The credit services provider reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.14). The company had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $157.27 million. Navient had a net margin of 3.41% and a return on equity of 11.06%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.70 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Navient will post 1.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Navient Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th were issued a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.15%. Navient’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.03%.

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.