Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) Trading Up 3.9% – Time to Buy?

Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI)’s share price shot up 3.9% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $9.75 and last traded at $9.67. 74,352 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 93% from the average session volume of 1,078,193 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.31.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NAVI has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Navient from $9.50 to $8.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 13th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Navient from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Navient in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “sell” rating on shares of Navient in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Navient has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $9.14.

Navient Stock Up 2.5%

The company has a market cap of $894.66 million, a P/E ratio of -19.08 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.73, a current ratio of 10.53 and a quick ratio of 10.53. The company has a 50 day moving average of $8.71 and a 200-day moving average of $8.58.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The credit services provider reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $150.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $142.87 million. Navient had a positive return on equity of 4.68% and a negative net margin of 1.64%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.20 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Navient Corporation will post 0.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Navient Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 4th will be paid a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. Navient’s dividend payout ratio is currently -128.00%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in shares of Navient by 11.7% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 98,366 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,243,000 after purchasing an additional 10,296 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in Navient by 9.1% in 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 purchasing an additional 17,483 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in Navient by 77.0% during the 2nd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 7,766 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $109,000 after buying an additional 3,378 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in Navient by 13.5% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 438,621 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $6,185,000 after purchasing an additional 52,236 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Navient by 6.4% in the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 276,778 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,903,000 after buying an additional 16,611 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.14% of the company’s stock.

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.