Brokerages Set Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI) PT at $11.63

Shares of Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Strong Sell” from the eleven research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a hold rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $11.6250.

Several analysts recently commented on NAVI shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Navient from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 7th. Morgan Stanley set a $12.00 price target on Navient in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Navient in a report on Monday, December 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on Navient from $15.00 to $9.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Navient from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd.

Navient Stock Down 0.9%

NAVI stock opened at $8.04 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $11.65. The company has a market capitalization of $764.52 million, a P/E ratio of -9.80 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.94, a current ratio of 9.01 and a quick ratio of 9.01. Navient has a 12 month low of $7.86 and a 12 month high of $16.07.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 27th. The credit services provider reported $0.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by ($0.29). Navient had a negative net margin of 2.47% and a positive return on equity of 4.70%. The company had revenue of $137.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $144.25 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.24) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Navient will post 1.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Navient Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 6th were given a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 6th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.0%. Navient’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -78.05%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of NAVI. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Navient by 70.5% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,978 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 818 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its stake in Navient by 79.0% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,525 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 1,114 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in Navient during the 4th quarter worth $44,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Navient by 39.2% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,228 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 1,191 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in shares of Navient by 3,045.4% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 5,127 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 4,964 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.14% of the company’s stock.

Navient Company Profile

Navient Corporation (NASDAQ: NAVI) is a specialized provider of asset management and business processing solutions, with a primary focus on student loan servicing. Established in 2014 through the separation from Sallie Mae, Navient assumed responsibility for servicing federal and private education loans, positioning itself as one of the largest servicers of higher education debt in the United States.

The company’s core activities center on federal student loan servicing under contracts with the U.S.