Navient Co. (NASDAQ:NAVI) Receives $16.67 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Navient Co. (NASDAQ:NAVI) has received an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the nine brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and six have assigned a hold recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $16.67.

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on NAVI. TD Cowen downgraded Navient from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $17.00 to $15.00 in a report on Monday, January 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Navient from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $18.00 to $17.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Stephens cut shares of Navient from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $16.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. StockNews.com cut Navient from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Navient from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st.

Insider Activity at Navient

In related news, EVP Mark L. Heleen sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.20, for a total transaction of $172,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 385,577 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,631,924.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 27.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. increased its stake in Navient by 31.5% in the 4th quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 3,586,501 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $66,781,000 after buying an additional 858,890 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Navient during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $13,546,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its holdings in Navient by 207.8% during the fourth quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 231,186 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $4,320,000 after acquiring an additional 156,086 shares during the period. Denali Advisors LLC boosted its position in Navient by 115.9% in the first quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 283,000 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $4,924,000 after purchasing an additional 151,900 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Navient by 24.8% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 541,674 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $9,328,000 after purchasing an additional 107,543 shares during the period. 97.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Navient Stock Up 0.1 %

Navient stock opened at $16.60 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $16.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $17.12. The company has a quick ratio of 13.63, a current ratio of 13.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 19.35. The stock has a market cap of $1.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.33 and a beta of 1.38. Navient has a twelve month low of $14.10 and a twelve month high of $19.69.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The credit services provider reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $193.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $210.76 million. Navient had a return on equity of 14.17% and a net margin of 4.72%. As a group, analysts expect that Navient will post 2.12 EPS for the current year.

Navient Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.86%. Navient’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.96%.

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.