Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) Upgraded to “Hold” at TD Cowen

TD Cowen upgraded shares of Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) from a strong sell rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on NAVI. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Navient from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Navient from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Navient from $15.00 to $13.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com lowered Navient from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on Navient from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Navient has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $13.50.

Navient Trading Down 6.1 %

NASDAQ NAVI opened at $11.14 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 9.49, a current ratio of 9.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.60 and a beta of 1.24. Navient has a 52-week low of $10.96 and a 52-week high of $17.28. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $13.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $14.34.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The credit services provider reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by ($0.01). Navient had a return on equity of 6.69% and a net margin of 2.96%. Equities research analysts expect that Navient will post 1.04 EPS for the current year.

Navient Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.75%. Navient’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 55.17%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Navient

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in Navient by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 44,052 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $585,000 after buying an additional 823 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its position in Navient by 12.6% during the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 14,173 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $221,000 after purchasing an additional 1,587 shares in the last quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP raised its stake in Navient by 16.3% in the 4th quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP now owns 12,877 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $171,000 after purchasing an additional 1,804 shares during the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Navient by 815.0% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 2,443 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 2,176 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its stake in shares of Navient by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 47,774 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $635,000 after purchasing an additional 2,190 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.14% of the company’s stock.

About Navient

Navient Corporation provides technology-enabled education finance and business processing solutions for education, health care, and government clients in the United States. It operates through three segments: Federal Education Loans, Consumer Lending, and Business Processing. The company owns Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) loans that are insured or guaranteed by state or not-for-profit agencies; and performs servicing on its portfolios, as well as federal education loans held by other institutions.