Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) Reaches New 52-Week Low – Here’s What Happened

Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI)’s share price reached a new 52-week low on Monday . The stock traded as low as $7.98 and last traded at $7.99, with a volume of 275301 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.30.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on NAVI. Barclays set a $9.00 price objective on shares of Navient in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Zacks Research cut shares of Navient from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on shares of Navient from $15.00 to $9.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Navient in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Navient from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Strong Sell” and a consensus target price of $11.63.

Navient Stock Down 3.9%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.94, a quick ratio of 9.01 and a current ratio of 9.01. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $10.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $12.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $758.82 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.73 and a beta of 1.33.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. 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 company had revenue of $137.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $144.25 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.24) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Navient Corporation will post 1.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Navient Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 6th will be paid a $0.16 dividend. 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 8.0%. Navient’s dividend payout ratio is presently -78.05%.

Institutional Trading of Navient

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Navient by 70.5% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,978 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 818 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its position in Navient by 79.0% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,525 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 1,114 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in Navient in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $44,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in Navient by 39.2% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,228 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 1,191 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its position in Navient by 3,045.4% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 5,127 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 4,964 shares during 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.