Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) Shares Up 7.6% – Here’s Why

Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI)’s share price shot up 7.6% during mid-day trading on Thursday. The company traded as high as $8.62 and last traded at $8.7550. Approximately 72,886 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 94% from the average session volume of 1,143,312 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.14.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NAVI has been the subject of several research reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Navient in a research note on Monday, September 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Navient from $8.00 to $8.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 12th. Zacks Research upgraded Navient from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 12th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Navient from $8.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a “sell” rating on shares of Navient in a research report on Friday, August 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $8.17.

Navient Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $825.73 million, a P/E ratio of -17.61 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a 50 day moving average of $9.24 and a 200-day moving average of $8.99. The company has a quick ratio of 10.53, a current ratio of 10.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.73.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The credit services provider reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.09. Navient had a positive return on equity of 4.68% and a negative net margin of 1.64%. The firm had revenue of $150.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $142.87 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.20 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Navient Corporation will post 0.83 EPS for the current year.

Navient Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 4th were paid a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.3%. Navient’s dividend payout ratio is presently -128.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Navient

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NAVI. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Navient by 0.4% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 322,085 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,635,000 after buying an additional 1,354 shares during the period. Abel Hall LLC grew its stake in Navient by 13.5% during the 3rd quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 13,714 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $124,000 after acquiring an additional 1,632 shares in the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its holdings in shares of Navient by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 38,948 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $319,000 after purchasing an additional 1,654 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Navient by 10.5% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 30,707 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $261,000 after purchasing an additional 2,920 shares during the period. Finally, Daytona Street Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Navient by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Daytona Street Capital LLC now owns 114,121 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,028,000 after purchasing an additional 3,300 shares during the period. 97.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Navient

Navient Corp. (NASDAQ:NAVI) is a financial services company that provides education finance and business-processing solutions. The company has historically serviced and managed federal and private student loans, helping borrowers with account administration, repayment processing, customer support and related loan-management services.

Navient’s operations have evolved as the company reduced its role in servicing federally owned student loans. In 2021, it transferred its federal student loan servicing portfolio to Aidvantage, a division of Maximus.