Navient Co. (NASDAQ:NAVI) EVP Sells $160,000.00 in Stock

Navient Co. (NASDAQ:NAVI) EVP Mark L. Heleen sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.00, for a total value of $160,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 393,611 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,297,776. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Navient Stock Performance

Shares of NAVI stock opened at $15.47 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $16.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $16.98. Navient Co. has a 1-year low of $14.10 and a 1-year high of $19.69. The company has a market cap of $1.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.92 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 18.38, a current ratio of 12.52 and a quick ratio of 12.52.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The credit services provider reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.05. Navient had a net margin of 3.93% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The company had revenue of $163.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $188.04 million. On average, equities research analysts expect that Navient Co. will post 1.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Navient Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. Navient’s payout ratio is 41.03%.

Institutional Trading of Navient

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of NAVI. Denali Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Navient during the fourth quarter worth about $2,441,000. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd acquired a new position in Navient in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $13,546,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in Navient by 7.4% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,138,526 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $19,605,000 after acquiring an additional 78,186 shares during the period. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. increased its stake in Navient by 31.5% during the fourth quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 3,586,501 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $66,781,000 after acquiring an additional 858,890 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its position in Navient by 207.8% in the fourth quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 231,186 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $4,320,000 after purchasing an additional 156,086 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NAVI has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Navient from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Citigroup increased their price target on Navient from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Navient from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Barclays lowered their target price on Navient from $13.00 to $11.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on Navient in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $19.00 price target for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $16.10.

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.