Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI) Receives Consensus Rating of “Strong Sell” from Brokerages

Shares of Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Strong Sell” from the eleven research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have issued a hold rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $11.6250.

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on NAVI shares. Morgan Stanley set a $12.00 price target on Navient in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Navient in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on shares of Navient from $15.00 to $9.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Navient from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 1st. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “sell” rating on shares of Navient in a report on Thursday, October 30th.

Navient Stock Down 1.9%

Shares of NASDAQ NAVI traded down $0.20 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $9.86. The company had a trading volume of 49,688 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,072,632. The stock has a market capitalization of $960.96 million, a P/E ratio of -12.02 and a beta of 1.32. Navient has a 1-year low of $9.35 and a 1-year high of $16.07. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $12.34 and its 200-day moving average is $12.64. The company has a quick ratio of 9.41, a current ratio of 9.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.94.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The credit services provider reported $0.02 EPS 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 business had revenue of $137.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $144.25 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.24) EPS. Navient has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.650-0.800 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Navient will post 1.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Navient Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 5th were given a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 5th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.5%. Navient’s payout ratio is presently -78.05%.

Institutional Trading of Navient

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Navient by 70.5% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,978 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 818 shares in the last quarter. Intrust Bank NA increased its position in Navient by 8.4% during the 2nd quarter. Intrust Bank NA now owns 11,503 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $162,000 after purchasing an additional 895 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS raised its stake in Navient by 5.4% during the second quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 18,698 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $264,000 after buying an additional 951 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of Navient by 79.0% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,525 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 1,114 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Navient by 6.8% in the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 18,372 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $259,000 after purchasing an additional 1,168 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.