Navient Co. (NAVI) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.16 on March 21st

Navient Co. (NASDAQ:NAVI) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 21st, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be given a dividend of 0.16 per share by the credit services provider on Friday, March 21st. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.67%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th.

Navient has a dividend payout ratio of 45.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Navient to earn $1.41 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.64 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 45.4%.

Navient Price Performance

NAVI opened at $13.71 on Wednesday. Navient has a 1 year low of $12.73 and a 1 year high of $17.56. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $13.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $14.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.40 billion, a PE ratio of 11.82 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.35, a quick ratio of 9.49 and a current ratio of 9.48.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on NAVI. StockNews.com downgraded Navient from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Navient from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Navient from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Navient from $15.00 to $13.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.90.

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.