Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) Share Price Passes Above Fifty Day Moving Average – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI) passed above its 50 day moving average during trading on Friday . The stock has a 50 day moving average of $12.43 and traded as high as $13.06. Navient shares last traded at $12.78, with a volume of 911,151 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NAVI has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Navient from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of Navient from $15.00 to $14.50 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Navient in a research note on Monday, December 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Navient from $14.00 to $12.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Cowen reiterated a “sell” rating on shares of Navient in a report on Thursday, October 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Navient currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $12.83.

Navient Stock Down 1.7%

The company has a market cap of $1.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -23.67 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.98, a current ratio of 9.41 and a quick ratio of 9.41. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $12.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $13.07.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 28th. The credit services provider reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The business had revenue of $511.00 million during the quarter. Navient had a positive return on equity of 4.12% and a negative net margin of 1.48%. Sell-side analysts predict that Navient Corporation will post 1.04 EPS for the current year.

Navient Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 19th. Investors of record on Friday, December 5th were given a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 5th. Navient’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -118.52%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Navient

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Trexquant Investment LP acquired a new stake in shares of Navient during the 1st quarter worth $434,000. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in Navient by 11.7% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 98,366 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,243,000 after buying an additional 10,296 shares in the last quarter. Caxton Associates LLP bought a new position in Navient in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,725,000. Optimize Financial Inc raised its position in shares of Navient by 37.0% in the 1st quarter. Optimize Financial Inc now owns 27,820 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $351,000 after buying an additional 7,518 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Navient by 9.1% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 210,350 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,657,000 after acquiring an additional 17,483 shares during the period. 97.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Navient

Navient Corporation (NASDAQ: NAVI) is a specialized provider of asset management and business processing solutions, with a primary focus on student loan servicing. Established in 2014 through the separation from Sallie Mae, Navient assumed responsibility for servicing federal and private education loans, positioning itself as one of the largest servicers of higher education debt in the United States.

The company’s core activities center on federal student loan servicing under contracts with the U.S.