Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Cuts Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) Price Target to $14.00

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) had its target price lowered by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $16.00 to $14.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a market perform rating on the credit services provider’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on NAVI. Bank of America decreased their target price on Navient from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. StockNews.com lowered Navient from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Navient from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Navient from $15.00 to $13.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Navient has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.50.

Navient Stock Performance

Shares of NAVI stock opened at $12.98 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $1.33 billion, a PE ratio of 11.19 and a beta of 1.36. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $13.67 and a 200-day moving average of $14.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.35, a current ratio of 9.48 and a quick ratio of 9.49. Navient has a one year low of $12.35 and a one year high of $17.56.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The credit services provider reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.26 by ($0.01). Navient had a net margin of 2.96% and a return on equity of 6.69%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Navient will post 1.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Navient Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.93%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. Navient’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 55.17%.

Institutional Trading of Navient

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NAVI. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. boosted its position in Navient by 43.1% during the fourth quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 395,948 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $5,262,000 after purchasing an additional 119,317 shares during the last quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Navient in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $258,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new position in shares of Navient in the third quarter valued at $511,000. EMC Capital Management increased its holdings in Navient by 2,193.7% during the fourth quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 20,276 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $269,000 after buying an additional 19,392 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Navient by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 374,879 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $4,982,000 after buying an additional 3,445 shares during the last quarter. 97.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Navient Company 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.