Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 228,503 Shares of Nelnet, Inc. $NNI

Vanguard Group Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Nelnet, Inc. (NYSE:NNI) by 14.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,317,538 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 228,503 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc.’s holdings in Nelnet were worth $175,180,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. UBS Group AG grew its holdings in shares of Nelnet by 66.4% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 191,826 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $24,051,000 after purchasing an additional 76,534 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Nelnet by 7.5% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 185,029 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $23,199,000 after purchasing an additional 12,941 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Nelnet by 28.9% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 184,316 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $23,110,000 after purchasing an additional 41,302 shares during the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Nelnet by 3.2% during the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 99,917 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $12,528,000 after purchasing an additional 3,077 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its holdings in shares of Nelnet by 7.2% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 58,415 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $6,480,000 after purchasing an additional 3,923 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 33.51% of the company’s stock.

Nelnet Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of NNI opened at $122.07 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 28.27, a current ratio of 28.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.18. Nelnet, Inc. has a 12-month low of $107.45 and a 12-month high of $144.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.38 billion, a PE ratio of 10.63 and a beta of 0.83. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $133.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $132.34.

Nelnet (NYSE:NNI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The credit services provider reported $1.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.66 by ($0.72). Nelnet had a net margin of 18.45% and a return on equity of 11.78%. The firm had revenue of $419.06 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $443.84 million. As a group, research analysts predict that Nelnet, Inc. will post 9.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Nelnet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 1st. Nelnet’s dividend payout ratio is 11.50%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NNI has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded Nelnet from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Zacks Research lowered Nelnet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $140.00.

About Nelnet

Nelnet, Inc (NYSE: NNI) is a diversified education services company founded in 1978 and headquartered in Lincoln, Nebraska. Originally established as the National Education Loan Network by Michael S. Dunlap, the company has grown into a prominent provider of student loan servicing and education finance solutions in the United States.

At the core of Nelnet’s business is student loan servicing, where it administers and manages federal and private education loans on behalf of borrowers and lending partners.