Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Acquires 2,190 Shares of Navient Co. (NASDAQ:NAVI)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its holdings in shares of Navient Co. (NASDAQ:NAVI) by 4.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 47,774 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,190 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in Navient were worth $635,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its holdings in Navient by 5.3% in the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 177,117 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,579,000 after acquiring an additional 8,874 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Navient by 11.5% during the 2nd quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 13,944 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $203,000 after purchasing an additional 1,440 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new position in shares of Navient during the second quarter valued at about $2,327,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC bought a new position in Navient in the second quarter worth about $3,345,000. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in Navient in the second quarter worth about $121,000. 97.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NAVI has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com raised Navient from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Navient from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Navient from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Navient from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Navient from $15.00 to $13.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $14.58.

Navient Trading Up 2.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ NAVI opened at $14.26 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $1.53 billion, a PE ratio of 20.67 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.59, a quick ratio of 9.49 and a current ratio of 9.49. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $14.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $15.01. Navient Co. has a 52-week low of $12.73 and a 52-week high of $18.36.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The credit services provider reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $1.20. Navient had a return on equity of 8.62% and a net margin of 1.71%. The business had revenue of $1.22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $150.04 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.84 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Navient Co. will post 2.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Navient Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were given a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.49%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. Navient’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 92.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Navient

In related news, EVP Stephen M. Hauber sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.00, for a total transaction of $150,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 256,883 shares in the company, valued at $3,853,245. This represents a 3.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 27.99% of the company’s stock.

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.