Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Friday.

NAVI has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Navient from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Navient from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Navient from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Navient from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Navient from $15.00 to $13.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $14.58.

Navient Price Performance

Shares of Navient stock opened at $13.67 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.78 and a beta of 1.43. Navient has a one year low of $12.73 and a one year high of $17.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.59, a current ratio of 9.49 and a quick ratio of 9.49. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $14.17 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $14.99.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The credit services provider reported $0.25 earnings per share 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 6.64%. Analysts forecast that Navient will post 1.22 EPS for the current year.

Navient Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. Navient’s payout ratio is 55.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Navient

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

Institutional Trading of Navient

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NAVI. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Navient by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 374,879 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $4,982,000 after purchasing an additional 3,445 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers raised its position in Navient by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 343,341 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $4,563,000 after acquiring an additional 18,760 shares during the period. Entropy Technologies LP boosted its stake in shares of Navient by 46.2% during the 4th quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 21,526 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $286,000 after acquiring an additional 6,800 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of Navient by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 467,232 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $6,210,000 after purchasing an additional 22,765 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EMC Capital Management raised its holdings in Navient by 2,193.7% in the 4th quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 20,276 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $269,000 after purchasing an additional 19,392 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.14% of the company’s stock.

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.