Analysts Set Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI) Price Target at $9.14

Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” by the nine brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a hold rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $9.1429.

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Navient in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Navient from $9.50 to $8.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Navient from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a “sell” rating on shares of Navient in a research report on Friday, August 7th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Navient

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NAVI. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in Navient during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,227,000. Arbiter Partners Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Navient by 230.5% in the first quarter. Arbiter Partners Capital Management LLC now owns 512,548 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $4,193,000 after purchasing an additional 357,454 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Navient by 20.2% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,484,742 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $32,302,000 after purchasing an additional 418,161 shares in the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd grew its position in shares of Navient by 208.4% in the fourth quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 292,120 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,798,000 after purchasing an additional 197,395 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caxton Associates LLP grew its position in shares of Navient by 38.3% in the first quarter. Caxton Associates LLP now owns 222,396 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,819,000 after purchasing an additional 61,589 shares during the last quarter. 97.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Navient Stock Up 2.8%

Shares of NASDAQ NAVI opened at $9.25 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 10.53, a current ratio of 10.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.73. Navient has a 52 week low of $7.33 and a 52 week high of $13.87. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $8.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $8.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $867.47 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -18.50 and a beta of 1.18.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The credit services provider reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.09. Navient had a negative net margin of 1.64% and a positive return on equity of 4.68%. The firm had revenue of $150.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $142.87 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.20 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Navient will post 0.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Navient Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 4th will be given a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.9%. Navient’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -128.00%.

About Navient

Navient Corporation (NASDAQ: NAVI) is a specialized provider of asset management and business processing solutions, with a primary focus on student loan servicing. Established in 2014 through the separation from Sallie Mae, Navient assumed responsibility for servicing federal and private education loans, positioning itself as one of the largest servicers of higher education debt in the United States.

The company’s core activities center on federal student loan servicing under contracts with the U.S.