Brokerages Set Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI) PT at $9.14

Shares of Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” by the nine brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and five have issued a hold recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $9.1429.

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on NAVI. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Navient in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Navient from $9.50 to $8.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 13th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “sell” rating on shares of Navient in a report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Navient from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th.

Navient Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NAVI opened at $9.45 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 10.53, a current ratio of 10.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $886.26 million, a PE ratio of -18.90 and a beta of 1.18. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $8.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $8.59. Navient has a twelve month low of $7.33 and a twelve month high of $13.87.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The credit services provider reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.09. Navient had a negative net margin of 1.64% and a positive return on equity of 4.68%. The company had revenue of $150.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $142.87 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.20 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Navient will post 0.76 EPS for the current year.

Navient Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 4th will be given a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.8%. Navient’s dividend payout ratio is presently -128.00%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in NAVI. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Navient during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $110,235,000. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd raised its stake in Navient by 23.2% during the 2nd quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 2,848,718 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $40,167,000 after acquiring an additional 536,933 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Navient by 20.2% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,484,742 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $32,302,000 after acquiring an additional 418,161 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Navient by 41.5% during the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,939,380 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $16,504,000 after purchasing an additional 568,590 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Navient by 37.8% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,543,796 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $20,069,000 after purchasing an additional 423,381 shares in the last quarter. 97.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Navient

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.