Empowered Funds LLC Takes $3.13 Million Position in Navient Corporation $NAVI

Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 368,217 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,134,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of NAVI. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Navient during the second quarter valued at $110,235,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in Navient in the second quarter worth about $11,989,000. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd increased its position in Navient by 23.2% in the second quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 2,848,718 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $40,167,000 after buying an additional 536,933 shares in the last quarter. PDT Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Navient in the second quarter worth about $4,435,000. Finally, Man Group plc purchased a new position in shares of Navient during the 2nd quarter valued at about $4,064,000. 97.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Navient Trading Down 2.4%

Shares of Navient stock opened at $9.28 on Wednesday. Navient Corporation has a twelve month low of $7.33 and a twelve month high of $13.87. 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 business has a 50-day moving average price of $8.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $8.57. The firm has a market cap of $870.32 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -18.56 and a beta of 1.18.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last posted its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $150.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $142.87 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.20 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Navient Corporation will post 0.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Navient Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. Navient’s dividend payout ratio is -128.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. TD Cowen reiterated a “sell” rating on shares of Navient in a research note on Friday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Navient from $9.50 to $8.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Navient in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Navient presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $9.14.

Navient 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.