Brokerages Set Navient Co. (NASDAQ:NAVI) Target Price at $17.40

Shares of Navient Co. (NASDAQ:NAVI – Get Rating) have been given an average rating of “Hold” by the eleven analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $17.40.

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on NAVI. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Navient from $15.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 1st. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Navient from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Navient from $14.50 to $17.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Navient from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $14.00 to $16.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 1st. Finally, Credit Suisse Group increased their price target on shares of Navient from $14.00 to $16.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 26th.

Navient Stock Down 3.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ NAVI opened at $15.15 on Thursday. Navient has a 1 year low of $12.45 and a 1 year high of $19.34. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $17.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $16.32. The firm has a market cap of $1.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 20.50, a quick ratio of 11.42 and a current ratio of 11.42.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 24th. The credit services provider reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by ($0.06). Navient had a return on equity of 16.40% and a net margin of 16.80%. The firm had revenue of $232.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $253.74 million. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Navient will post 3.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Navient Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 3rd were paid a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.22%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 2nd. Navient’s dividend payout ratio is presently 14.48%.

Insider Activity at Navient

In other Navient news, EVP Stephen M. Hauber sold 11,351 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.17, for a total transaction of $217,598.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 217,081 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,161,442.77. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Stephen M. Hauber sold 11,351 shares of Navient stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.17, for a total value of $217,598.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 217,081 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,161,442.77. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP John M. Kane sold 17,006 shares of Navient stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.56, for a total transaction of $281,619.36. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 607,303 shares in the company, valued at $10,056,937.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 22.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Navient

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Navient in the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in shares of Navient by 89.2% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,937 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 1,385 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in shares of Navient in the fourth quarter worth $62,000. Covestor Ltd raised its stake in Navient by 87.4% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 5,042 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $86,000 after purchasing an additional 2,352 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wipfli Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Navient during the 3rd quarter valued at $88,000. 70.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Navient Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Navient Corp. engages in the provision of asset management and business processing solutions for education, healthcare and government clients at the federal, state and local levels. It operates through the following segments: Federal Education Loans, Consumer Lending, Business Processing and Other. The Federal Education Loans segment owns FFELP Loans and performs servicing and asset recovery services on FFELP Loan portfolio.