Marshall Wace LLP Purchases New Shares in Navient Co. (NASDAQ:NAVI)

Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new stake in Navient Co. (NASDAQ:NAVI) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 159,797 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,327,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new position in Navient during the 1st quarter worth $36,000. IAG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Navient during the 2nd quarter worth $50,000. Signaturefd LLC raised its position in Navient by 22.1% during the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 4,797 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $70,000 after buying an additional 869 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd raised its position in Navient by 23.1% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 6,245 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $109,000 after buying an additional 1,173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Navient by 83.8% during the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,107 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $191,000 after buying an additional 5,977 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on NAVI shares. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Navient in a report on Monday, September 30th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $17.00 price target for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Navient from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Navient from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Navient from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $15.56.

Navient Price Performance

Navient stock opened at $15.60 on Friday. Navient Co. has a 12-month low of $13.95 and a 12-month high of $19.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.00 and a beta of 1.39. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $15.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $15.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.30, a current ratio of 9.99 and a quick ratio of 9.99.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The credit services provider reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.14). Navient had a return on equity of 11.06% and a net margin of 3.41%. The firm had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $157.27 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.70 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Navient Co. will post 1.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Navient Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th were paid a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.10%. Navient’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.03%.

Navient 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.