Nelnet, Inc. $NNI Shares Acquired by Edgestream Partners L.P.

Edgestream Partners L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Nelnet, Inc. (NYSE:NNI) by 47.9% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 50,718 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,428 shares during the quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P.’s holdings in Nelnet were worth $6,541,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bragg Financial Advisors Inc lifted its position in Nelnet by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Bragg Financial Advisors Inc now owns 212,618 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $28,270,000 after buying an additional 6,620 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG grew its holdings in Nelnet by 66.4% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 191,826 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $24,051,000 after buying an additional 76,534 shares in the last quarter. Sycale Advisors NY LLC grew its holdings in Nelnet by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Sycale Advisors NY LLC now owns 152,441 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $20,269,000 after buying an additional 5,080 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its stake in shares of Nelnet by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 99,917 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $12,528,000 after acquiring an additional 3,077 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake 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 last quarter. 33.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Nelnet Trading Down 1.7%

Shares of NNI stock opened at $135.66 on Friday. Nelnet, Inc. has a 1-year low of $116.62 and a 1-year high of $144.38. The firm has a market cap of $4.87 billion, a PE ratio of 11.82 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a 50-day moving average of $131.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $131.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.14, a current ratio of 24.07 and a quick ratio of 24.07.

Nelnet (NYSE:NNI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The credit services provider reported $1.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by ($0.72). Nelnet had a net margin of 18.45% and a return on equity of 11.73%. The company had revenue of $419.06 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $443.84 million. On average, analysts predict that Nelnet, Inc. will post 8.18 EPS for the current year.

Nelnet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st were paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 1st. Nelnet’s dividend payout ratio is 11.50%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research cut shares of Nelnet from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Nelnet from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $140.00.

About Nelnet

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.