Arbiter Partners Capital Management LLC Has $4.19 Million Stock Holdings in Navient Corporation $NAVI

Arbiter Partners Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI) by 230.5% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 512,548 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 357,454 shares during the quarter. Navient accounts for 2.4% of Arbiter Partners Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Arbiter Partners Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Navient were worth $4,193,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 536,933 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Navient by 37.8% in the 4th 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 period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Navient by 20.2% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,484,742 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $32,302,000 after buying an additional 418,161 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in Navient by 70.0% in the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 888,186 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $11,680,000 after buying an additional 365,677 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC raised its holdings in Navient by 206.7% during the fourth quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 398,152 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $5,176,000 after acquiring an additional 268,345 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.14% of the company’s stock.

Navient Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NAVI opened at $8.68 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $815.83 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -13.78 and a beta of 1.19. Navient Corporation has a 1 year low of $7.33 and a 1 year high of $14.40. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $8.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $9.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.49, a current ratio of 7.67 and a quick ratio of 7.67.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit services provider reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.03. Navient had a negative net margin of 1.94% and a positive return on equity of 4.39%. The firm had revenue of $152.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $141.47 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.25 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Navient Corporation will post 0.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Navient Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th were paid a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. Navient’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -101.59%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on NAVI. Barclays boosted their price objective on Navient from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Bank of America started coverage on Navient in a research note on Monday, April 20th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $7.00 target price on the stock. TD Cowen lowered their price target on Navient from $9.00 to $8.50 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Navient from $12.00 to $9.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Navient from $9.50 to $8.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Navient has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $9.14.

Navient Profile

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.