Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) Sets New 52-Week Low After Analyst Downgrade

Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI) shares hit a new 52-week low during trading on Tuesday after Zacks Research downgraded the stock from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating. The stock traded as low as $7.25 and last traded at $7.2660, with a volume of 437,375 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $7.84.

NAVI has been the topic of a number of other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Navient from $8.50 to $9.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 5th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Navient in a report on Monday, September 21st. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Navient from $8.50 to $8.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 5th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on Navient from $7.00 to $6.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $8.00.

Institutional Trading of Navient

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Navient by 41.5% in the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,939,380 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $16,504,000 after buying an additional 568,590 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Navient in the second quarter valued at about $1,295,000. WINTON GROUP Ltd increased its stake in shares of Navient by 290.4% in the second quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 188,946 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,608,000 after buying an additional 140,550 shares during the period. Engineers Gate Manager LP increased its stake in shares of Navient by 329.5% in the second quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 169,241 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,440,000 after buying an additional 129,841 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of Navient during the second quarter worth about $3,176,000. 97.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Navient Stock Down 1.4%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 15.37, a current ratio of 7.50 and a quick ratio of 10.53. The company has a market capitalization of $547.21 million, a P/E ratio of 11.04 and a beta of 1.17. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $9.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $8.79.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 4th. The credit services provider reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $308.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $144.92 million. Navient had a return on equity of 3.65% and a net margin of 1.79%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.84) earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Navient Corporation will post 0.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Navient Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 4th will be paid a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 4th. Navient’s dividend payout ratio is currently 120.75%.

About Navient

Navient is a U.S.-focused education finance company whose business has centered on managing student loan portfolios and providing loan servicing. Its services have included payment processing, borrower account support and repayment assistance for federal and private education loans, as well as asset-recovery and business-processing services. The company was formed in 2014 through the separation of SLM Corporation, commonly known as Sallie Mae. Navient later transferred federal student loan servicing operations to other providers, including a transfer to Maximus in 2021 and an agreement to move its remaining federal servicing accounts to MOHELA in 2024.