Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) Sets New 52-Week Low – Here’s Why

Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI) shares hit a new 52-week low on Monday . The stock traded as low as $7.98 and last traded at $7.99, with a volume of 275301 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.30.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NAVI has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley set a $12.00 price objective on shares of Navient in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Barclays set a $9.00 target price on shares of Navient in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Navient from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Navient in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Navient from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Strong Sell” and a consensus price target of $11.63.

Navient Trading Down 3.9%

The company has a market cap of $758.82 million, a P/E ratio of -9.73 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a current ratio of 9.01, a quick ratio of 9.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.94. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $10.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $12.03.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The credit services provider reported $0.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by ($0.29). Navient had a positive return on equity of 4.70% and a negative net margin of 2.47%.The firm had revenue of $137.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $144.25 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.24) earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Navient Corporation will post 1.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Navient Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be issued a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 6th. Navient’s dividend payout ratio is presently -78.05%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Navient

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Navient by 70.5% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,978 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 818 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its position in shares of Navient by 79.0% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,525 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 1,114 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Navient in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Navient by 39.2% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,228 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 1,191 shares during the period. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its stake in shares of Navient by 3,045.4% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 5,127 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 4,964 shares during the period. 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.