Nelnet (NYSE:NNI) Sees Large Volume Increase – What’s Next?

Shares of Nelnet, Inc. (NYSE:NNI) saw an uptick in trading volume on Tuesday . 158,929 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 34% from the previous session’s volume of 118,590 shares.The stock last traded at $128.5550 and had previously closed at $128.76.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on NNI. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Nelnet in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Zacks Research upgraded Nelnet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $140.00.

Nelnet Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 28.27, a quick ratio of 28.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.18. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $131.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $130.58. The firm has a market cap of $4.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.00 and a beta of 0.82.

Nelnet (NYSE:NNI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The credit services provider reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by ($0.07). Nelnet had a return on equity of 12.43% and a net margin of 18.99%.The firm had revenue of $392.76 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $382.00 million. As a group, research analysts expect that Nelnet, Inc. will post 4.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nelnet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 27th were given a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 27th. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. Nelnet’s dividend payout ratio is 11.21%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NNI. UBS Group AG increased its holdings in shares of Nelnet by 66.4% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 191,826 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $24,051,000 after acquiring an additional 76,534 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Nelnet by 28.9% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 184,316 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $23,110,000 after purchasing an additional 41,302 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Nelnet by 29.7% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 172,088 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $20,843,000 after purchasing an additional 39,417 shares during the period. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its position in Nelnet by 66.4% in the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 96,840 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $11,729,000 after purchasing an additional 38,628 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in Nelnet by 421.7% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 46,474 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $5,629,000 after purchasing an additional 37,566 shares in the last quarter. 33.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Nelnet Company Profile

Nelnet, Inc (NYSE: NNI) is a diversified education services company founded in 1978 and headquartered in Lincoln, Nebraska. Originally established as the National Education Loan Network by Michael S. Dunlap, the company has grown into a prominent provider of student loan servicing and education finance solutions in the United States.

At the core of Nelnet’s business is student loan servicing, where it administers and manages federal and private education loans on behalf of borrowers and lending partners.