Nelnet (NYSE:NNI) Stock Rating Lowered by Zacks Research

Nelnet (NYSE:NNI) was downgraded by investment analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on NNI. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Nelnet from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Friday. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Nelnet in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $140.00.

Nelnet Price Performance

Shares of NNI opened at $140.87 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $5.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.97 and a beta of 0.83. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $132.81 and a 200-day moving average of $132.17. The company has a current ratio of 28.27, a quick ratio of 28.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.18. Nelnet has a 52 week low of $105.12 and a 52 week high of $144.38.

Nelnet (NYSE:NNI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The credit services provider reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.63 by ($0.07). Nelnet had a net margin of 18.99% and a return on equity of 12.43%. The firm had revenue of $392.76 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $382.00 million. As a group, analysts forecast that Nelnet will post 9.2 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Nelnet

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Nelnet by 8.3% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 81,435 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $10,502,000 after acquiring an additional 6,266 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp acquired a new position in Nelnet during the 1st quarter valued at about $363,000. New York State Teachers Retirement System bought a new position in Nelnet in the 1st quarter worth about $133,000. Inspire Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Nelnet by 13.0% in the first quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 3,983 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $514,000 after purchasing an additional 458 shares during the period. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its stake in shares of Nelnet by 22.6% in the first quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 2,102 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $271,000 after purchasing an additional 388 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 33.51% of the company’s stock.

Nelnet Company Profile

Nelnet, Inc (NYSE: NNI) is a diversified education services company founded in 1978 and headquartered in Lincoln, Nebraska. Originally established as the National Education Loan Network by Michael S. Dunlap, the company has grown into a prominent provider of student loan servicing and education finance solutions in the United States.

At the core of Nelnet’s business is student loan servicing, where it administers and manages federal and private education loans on behalf of borrowers and lending partners.