D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Sells 9,505 Shares of Nelnet, Inc. (NYSE:NNI)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Nelnet, Inc. (NYSE:NNI) by 13.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 60,145 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 9,505 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Nelnet were worth $6,424,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NNI. Algert Global LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Nelnet by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 19,864 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,122,000 after buying an additional 1,283 shares in the last quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL purchased a new position in shares of Nelnet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,441,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Nelnet by 19.0% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,125 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $975,000 after purchasing an additional 1,460 shares during the last quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Nelnet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $228,000. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Nelnet by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 8,510 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $909,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 33.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Nelnet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th.

Nelnet Stock Performance

Shares of NNI stock opened at $119.95 on Friday. Nelnet, Inc. has a 12 month low of $97.13 and a 12 month high of $127.32. The stock has a market cap of $4.35 billion, a PE ratio of 39.46 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 31.47, a quick ratio of 31.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.78. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $109.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $109.95.

Nelnet (NYSE:NNI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The credit services provider reported $2.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.92 by $0.47. The firm had revenue of $398.49 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $393.00 million. Nelnet had a return on equity of 3.78% and a net margin of 5.54%. On average, equities analysts expect that Nelnet, Inc. will post 4.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nelnet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be given a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 2nd. Nelnet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.17%.

Nelnet announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 8th that permits the company to buyback 5,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the credit services provider to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

About Nelnet

Nelnet, Inc engages in loan servicing, communications, education technology, services, and payment processing businesses worldwide. The Loan Servicing and Systems segment provides loan conversion, application processing, borrower updates, customer service, payment processing, due diligence procedures, funds management reconciliation, and claim processing services.