Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) Earns Hold Rating from Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI – Get Rating) in a report published on Thursday. The firm issued a hold rating on the credit services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Navient from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $14.00 to $16.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Navient from $14.50 to $17.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 10th. Stephens boosted their price target on shares of Navient from $17.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 26th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Navient from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research note on Thursday, January 26th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Navient from $16.00 to $19.00 in a research note on Friday, January 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $17.40.

Navient Stock Performance

NAVI opened at $15.15 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 11.42, a quick ratio of 11.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 20.50. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $17.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $16.32. Navient has a twelve month low of $12.45 and a twelve month high of $19.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.95 billion, a PE ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 1.53.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 24th. The credit services provider reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by ($0.06). Navient had a return on equity of 16.40% and a net margin of 16.80%. The firm had revenue of $232.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $253.74 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Navient will post 3.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Navient Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, March 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.22%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 2nd. Navient’s payout ratio is currently 14.48%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP John M. Kane sold 17,006 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.56, for a total transaction of $281,619.36. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 607,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,056,937.68. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, EVP John M. Kane sold 17,006 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.56, for a total transaction of $281,619.36. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 607,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,056,937.68. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Stephen M. Hauber sold 11,351 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.17, for a total transaction of $217,598.67. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 217,081 shares in the company, valued at $4,161,442.77. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 22.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NAVI. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Navient during the 1st quarter worth approximately $236,000. AlphaCrest Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Navient during the 1st quarter worth approximately $382,000. MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Navient by 36.6% during the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 180,855 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,082,000 after acquiring an additional 48,483 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS grew its holdings in Navient by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 56,439 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $962,000 after acquiring an additional 3,003 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its holdings in Navient by 22.9% during the 1st quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 2,641,958 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $45,019,000 after acquiring an additional 491,644 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.48% of the company’s stock.

About Navient

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Navient Corp. engages in the provision of asset management and business processing solutions for education, healthcare and government clients at the federal, state and local levels. It operates through the following segments: Federal Education Loans, Consumer Lending, Business Processing and Other. The Federal Education Loans segment owns FFELP Loans and performs servicing and asset recovery services on FFELP Loan portfolio.