Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) Hits New 52-Week Low – What’s Next?

Shares of Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI) hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $8.96 and last traded at $8.99, with a volume of 1098021 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $9.37.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on NAVI. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Navient in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Navient from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 1st. Zacks Research lowered shares of Navient from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. TD Cowen reiterated a “sell” rating on shares of Navient in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $12.00 target price on Navient in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Navient currently has a consensus rating of “Strong Sell” and a consensus price target of $11.63.

Navient Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $868.81 million, a PE ratio of -10.87 and a beta of 1.32. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $11.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $12.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.94, a current ratio of 9.01 and a quick ratio of 9.41.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The credit services provider reported $0.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.31 by ($0.29). Navient had a negative net margin of 2.47% and a positive return on equity of 4.70%. The business had revenue of $137.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $144.25 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.24) earnings per share. Navient has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.650-0.800 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Navient Corporation will post 1.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Navient Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 6th will be given a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 6th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.2%. Navient’s payout ratio is presently -78.05%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Navient

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in Navient by 790.1% during the third quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC now owns 1,590,339 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $20,913,000 after purchasing an additional 1,411,662 shares during the last quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Navient by 23.2% during the 2nd quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 2,848,718 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $40,167,000 after buying an additional 536,933 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in Navient by 37.8% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,543,796 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $20,069,000 after buying an additional 423,381 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Navient by 20.2% during 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 acquiring an additional 418,161 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its position in Navient by 70.0% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 888,186 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $11,680,000 after acquiring an additional 365,677 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.14% of the company’s stock.

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.