First Trust Advisors LP Decreases Stake in Navient Co. (NASDAQ:NAVI)

Posted by Defense World Staff on May 27th, 2023

First Trust Advisors LP lessened its stake in Navient Co. (NASDAQ:NAVI – Get Rating) by 17.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 342,262 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 72,710 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned 0.25% of Navient worth $5,630,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in NAVI. Sherborne Investors Management LP acquired a new position in Navient during the fourth quarter worth approximately $484,452,000. Boothbay Fund Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Navient in the third quarter valued at approximately $224,000. AlphaCrest Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Navient by 35.1% in the third quarter. AlphaCrest Capital Management LLC now owns 42,302 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $621,000 after purchasing an additional 10,993 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Navient by 0.6% in the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 396,017 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $5,809,000 after purchasing an additional 2,389 shares during the period. Finally, Fox Run Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in Navient during the fourth quarter worth $612,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.48% of the company’s stock.

Navient Price Performance

NASDAQ NAVI opened at $15.55 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 19.40, a current ratio of 10.99 and a quick ratio of 10.99. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $15.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $16.65. The firm has a market cap of $1.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.31 and a beta of 1.52. Navient Co. has a fifty-two week low of $12.45 and a fifty-two week high of $19.34.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 26th. The credit services provider reported $1.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $230.68 million. Navient had a return on equity of 16.24% and a net margin of 12.07%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Navient Co. will post 3.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Navient Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.12%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 1st. Navient’s payout ratio is 17.73%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com lowered Navient from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Navient from $19.00 to $17.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 5th. 888 reiterated a “reiterates” rating on shares of Navient in a research report on Thursday, April 27th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Navient from $19.00 to $17.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 18th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Navient from $19.00 to $18.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have issued a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $17.30.

Navient Company Profile

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Navient Corp. engages in the provision of asset management and business processing solutions for education, healthcare and government clients at the federal, state and local levels. It operates through the following segments: Federal Education Loans, Consumer Lending, Business Processing and Other. The Federal Education Loans segment owns FFELP Loans and performs servicing and asset recovery services on FFELP Loan portfolio.