Franklin Resources Inc. Has $779,000 Position in Navient Co. (NASDAQ:NAVI)

Franklin Resources Inc. decreased its stake in Navient Co. (NASDAQ:NAVI) by 31.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 50,297 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 23,136 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Navient were worth $779,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. grew its stake in Navient by 27.8% during the third quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 3,581,311 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $55,833,000 after buying an additional 779,973 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC acquired a new position in Navient in the second quarter worth $3,345,000. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Navient by 12.1% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,582,928 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $23,047,000 after buying an additional 171,160 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in Navient during the 2nd quarter worth about $2,327,000. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of Navient by 59.0% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 284,130 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $4,429,000 after purchasing an additional 105,454 shares during the last quarter. 97.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Navient from $15.50 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 9th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Navient from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com raised Navient from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Barclays upped their price target on Navient from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Navient from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $15.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Navient

In related news, EVP Stephen M. Hauber sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.00, for a total transaction of $150,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 256,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,853,245. This represents a 3.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 27.99% of the company’s stock.

Navient Price Performance

Shares of NAVI opened at $13.05 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $14.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $15.13. Navient Co. has a 52-week low of $12.96 and a 52-week high of $18.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.59, a quick ratio of 9.49 and a current ratio of 9.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.40 billion, a PE ratio of 18.91 and a beta of 1.40.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The credit services provider reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $1.20. The company had revenue of $1.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $150.04 million. Navient had a net margin of 1.71% and a return on equity of 8.62%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.84 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Navient Co. will post 2.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Navient Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were given a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. Navient’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 92.75%.

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.