Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 664,823 Shares of Navient Corporation $NAVI

Vanguard Group Inc. trimmed its stake in Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI) by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,555,881 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 664,823 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 7.75% of Navient worth $99,360,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in Navient by 11.7% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 98,366 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,243,000 after purchasing an additional 10,296 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in Navient by 9.1% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 210,350 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,657,000 after buying an additional 17,483 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Navient by 142.5% in the second quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 24,710 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $348,000 after buying an additional 14,519 shares in the last quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Navient during the second quarter valued at approximately $288,000. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS grew its holdings in shares of Navient by 5.4% during the second quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 18,698 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $264,000 after buying an additional 951 shares during the last quarter. 97.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Navient Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NAVI opened at $8.68 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $825.38 million, a P/E ratio of -10.59 and a beta of 1.33. Navient Corporation has a 1-year low of $8.30 and a 1-year high of $16.07. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $10.96 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $12.10. 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 (NASDAQ:NAVI) last released its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $137.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $144.25 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.24) EPS. Research analysts expect that Navient Corporation will post 1.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Navient Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be paid a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 6th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.4%. Navient’s dividend payout ratio is -78.05%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NAVI has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of Navient from $15.00 to $9.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley set a $12.00 price target on Navient in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Navient in a report on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research cut Navient from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Barclays set a $9.00 target price on Navient in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and six have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Strong Sell” and an average target price of $11.63.

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.