Zacks Investment Research Lowers Navient (NAVI) to Sell

Zacks Investment Research cut shares of Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report report published on Monday morning.

According to Zacks, “Shares of Navient outperformed the industry over the past six months. Also, the company has an impressive earnings surprise history, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings in three of the trailing four quarters. Fourth-quarter 2018 results reflect robust organic growth on the back of lower expenses and higher fee income. Yet, lower net interest income was a headwind. The company remains well poised to benefit from the ongoing economic recovery and remains focused on leveraging its asset recovery & processing businesses. The company continues to deploy technology platform and digital marketing tools to attract originations that bodes well for financials. Nevertheless, it continues to struggle with regulatory claims and litigation burden owing to its practices in handling large number of student loans. Also, unsustainable capital deployment activities, lack of access to new loans and alternative sources of revenues are concerns.”

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NAVI has been the subject of a number of other research reports. BidaskClub upgraded shares of Navient from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Friday, January 25th. ValuEngine downgraded shares of Navient from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report on Saturday, October 27th. Oppenheimer reissued a hold rating on shares of Navient in a report on Friday, January 25th. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Navient from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 25th. Finally, Barclays set a $14.00 price target on shares of Navient and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, December 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Navient has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $14.79.

Shares of NASDAQ:NAVI opened at $11.69 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 26.37, a current ratio of 17.67 and a quick ratio of 19.74. The stock has a market cap of $2.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.59 and a beta of 2.30. Navient has a twelve month low of $8.23 and a twelve month high of $15.02.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 22nd. The credit services provider reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $307.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $315.67 million. Navient had a net margin of 7.04% and a return on equity of 14.08%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.43 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Navient will post 1.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st will be issued a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 28th. Navient’s payout ratio is 30.62%.

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Navient by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 23,806,736 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $209,740,000 after buying an additional 763,973 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Navient by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 12,204,398 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $107,522,000 after purchasing an additional 298,646 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management raised its stake in Navient by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 6,889,622 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $60,697,000 after purchasing an additional 48,100 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Navient by 1.2% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,984,964 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $53,718,000 after purchasing an additional 47,749 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eaton Vance Management raised its stake in Navient by 1.1% in the third quarter. Eaton Vance Management now owns 3,793,232 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $51,133,000 after purchasing an additional 42,260 shares in the last quarter. 93.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Navient Company Profile

Navient Corporation provides asset management and business processing services to education, health care, and government clients at the federal, state, and local levels in the United States. The company operates in three segments: Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) Loans, Private Education Loans, and Business Services.

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