StockNews.com Lowers Nelnet (NYSE:NNI) to Hold

StockNews.com lowered shares of Nelnet (NYSE:NNI) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Tuesday.

Nelnet Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE NNI opened at $94.41 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.67, a quick ratio of 35.15 and a current ratio of 35.15. The company has a market cap of $3.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.69 and a beta of 0.86. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $90.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $87.87. Nelnet has a 52-week low of $81.67 and a 52-week high of $101.60.

Nelnet (NYSE:NNI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The credit services provider reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15 by ($1.19). The company had revenue of $260.66 million during the quarter. Nelnet had a net margin of 4.43% and a return on equity of 3.81%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Nelnet will post 5.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nelnet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.19%. Nelnet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.90%.

Institutional Trading of Nelnet

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in NNI. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Nelnet by 8,395.6% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 751,009 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $734,000 after buying an additional 742,169 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Nelnet by 1,210.1% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 90,400 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $7,683,000 after buying an additional 83,500 shares during the last quarter. Sycale Advisors NY LLC increased its holdings in shares of Nelnet by 20.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sycale Advisors NY LLC now owns 315,405 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $28,172,000 after buying an additional 53,853 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Nelnet by 205.3% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 70,690 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $6,008,000 after buying an additional 47,533 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Nelnet by 26.2% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 193,609 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $17,792,000 after buying an additional 40,211 shares during the last quarter. 33.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.