Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) Price Target Cut to $8.00 by Analysts at TD Cowen

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) had its price objective decreased by TD Cowen from $8.50 to $8.00 in a research note published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. TD Cowen currently has a sell rating on the credit services provider’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on NAVI. Barclays cut their target price on Navient from $7.00 to $6.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Zacks Research raised Navient from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Navient from $8.00 to $8.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Navient in a report on Monday, September 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $8.00.

Navient Stock Performance

Shares of NAVI stock opened at $8.82 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 10.53, a quick ratio of 10.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.73. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $9.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $8.89. The stock has a market cap of $827.14 million, a PE ratio of 9.97 and a beta of 1.17. Navient has a 12 month low of $7.33 and a 12 month high of $13.48.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The credit services provider reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by ($0.10). Navient had a net margin of 1.79% and a return on equity of 3.66%. The business had revenue of $308.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $144.92 million. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.84) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Navient will post 0.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Navient Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 4th were given a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.3%. Navient’s payout ratio is presently -128.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Navient

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Navient during the second quarter valued at $110,235,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Navient by 41.5% during the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,939,380 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $16,504,000 after purchasing an additional 568,590 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in shares of Navient in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $11,989,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its position in shares of Navient by 145.9% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 939,099 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $7,992,000 after purchasing an additional 557,141 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PDT Partners LLC bought a new stake in Navient in the second quarter worth $4,435,000. 97.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting Navient

Here are the key news stories impacting Navient this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Navient reported $308 million in Q3 revenue, above the cited consensus estimate of $144.92 million. A results review also highlighted origination growth and portfolio repositioning as factors supporting performance. Navient Q3 results Q3 deep dive
• Neutral Sentiment: JPMorgan raised its price target to $9 from $8.50 but maintained a neutral rating, implying limited upside from the cited share price. JPMorgan rating
• Negative Sentiment: Q3 EPS was $0.03, missing analyst estimates of $0.13–$0.15 and down from $0.29 a year earlier. The earnings shortfall likely weighed on sentiment despite the reported revenue beat. Q3 earnings report
• Negative Sentiment: TD Cowen cut its target to $8 from $8.50 and assigned a sell rating. Barclays lowered its target to $6 from $7 and maintained an underweight rating, signaling substantial downside concerns. TD Cowen rating Barclays rating

Navient Company Profile

Navient Corp. (NASDAQ:NAVI) is a financial services company that provides education finance and business-processing solutions. The company has historically serviced and managed federal and private student loans, helping borrowers with account administration, repayment processing, customer support and related loan-management services.

Navient’s operations have evolved as the company reduced its role in servicing federally owned student loans. In 2021, it transferred its federal student loan servicing portfolio to Aidvantage, a division of Maximus.