Wells Fargo & Company MN Increases Holdings in Navient Co. (NASDAQ:NAVI)

Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its position in shares of Navient Co. (NASDAQ:NAVI) by 13.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 74,148 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,024 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN’s holdings in Navient were worth $985,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Navient by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,822,583 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $24,222,000 after purchasing an additional 109,229 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Navient by 47.4% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,315,841 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $17,488,000 after acquiring an additional 423,013 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Navient by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,149,599 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $15,278,000 after purchasing an additional 10,788 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in shares of Navient by 51.3% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 555,634 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $7,384,000 after acquiring an additional 188,399 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in Navient by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 467,232 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $6,210,000 after purchasing an additional 22,765 shares during the period. 97.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on NAVI. TD Cowen upgraded Navient from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Navient from $13.50 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of Navient from $14.00 to $12.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Navient from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Navient from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $12.83.

Navient Trading Up 3.8 %

Shares of Navient stock opened at $12.70 on Wednesday. Navient Co. has a 12-month low of $10.53 and a 12-month high of $16.97. The stock has a market cap of $1.28 billion, a PE ratio of 10.95 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a 50-day moving average of $12.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $13.80. The company has a current ratio of 9.48, a quick ratio of 9.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.35.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The credit services provider reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.26 by ($0.01). Navient had a return on equity of 6.69% and a net margin of 2.96%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Navient Co. will post 1.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Navient Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.04%. Navient’s payout ratio is 55.17%.

Navient Company Profile

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.