Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Sells 203,013 Shares of Navient Co. (NASDAQ:NAVI)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP trimmed its position in Navient Co. (NASDAQ:NAVI) by 2.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,265,170 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 203,013 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned approximately 8.29% of Navient worth $134,899,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in NAVI. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new position in shares of Navient in the first quarter valued at $36,000. IAG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Navient in the 2nd quarter valued at about $50,000. Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in Navient by 22.1% during the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 4,797 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 869 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in Navient by 23.1% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 6,245 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $109,000 after purchasing an additional 1,173 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boulder Hill Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Navient in the fourth quarter worth approximately $188,000. 97.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on NAVI. Barclays cut their target price on Navient from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Navient from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Navient from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $15.56.

Navient Trading Down 1.7 %

NASDAQ NAVI opened at $15.87 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $15.60 and its 200-day moving average is $15.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.30, a current ratio of 9.99 and a quick ratio of 9.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.17 and a beta of 1.39. Navient Co. has a one year low of $13.95 and a one year high of $19.68.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The credit services provider reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.14). Navient had a net margin of 3.41% and a return on equity of 11.06%. The company had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $157.27 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.70 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Navient Co. will post 1.43 EPS for the current year.

Navient Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th were given a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.03%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. Navient’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.03%.

Navient 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.