Squarepoint Ops LLC Purchases New Stake in Navient Co. (NASDAQ:NAVI)

Squarepoint Ops LLC acquired a new position in Navient Co. (NASDAQ:NAVI) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 229,740 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,345,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in Navient during the first quarter worth about $36,000. IAG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Navient during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Signaturefd LLC increased its position in Navient by 22.1% in the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 4,797 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $70,000 after buying an additional 869 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in Navient by 23.1% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 6,245 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $109,000 after buying an additional 1,173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Navient by 83.8% during the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,107 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $191,000 after acquiring an additional 5,977 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on NAVI shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Navient from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 8th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Navient from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Navient from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on Navient in a research note on Monday. They set a “neutral” rating and a $17.00 target price on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $15.70.

Navient Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of Navient stock opened at $15.22 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $15.59 and a 200-day simple moving average of $15.53. The firm has a market cap of $1.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.76 and a beta of 1.39. Navient Co. has a fifty-two week low of $13.95 and a fifty-two week high of $19.68. The company has a quick ratio of 9.99, a current ratio of 9.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.30.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The credit services provider reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.14). The business had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $157.27 million. Navient had a net margin of 3.41% and a return on equity of 11.06%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.70 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Navient Co. will post 1.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Navient Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th were issued a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.20%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. Navient’s payout ratio is 41.03%.

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.