Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Sells 4,977 Shares of Navient Co. (NASDAQ:NAVI)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans reduced its stake in Navient Co. (NASDAQ:NAVI) by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 61,861 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 4,977 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned 0.06% of Navient worth $964,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of NAVI. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Navient by 13.7% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 18,192 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $284,000 after buying an additional 2,194 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in Navient by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 444,467 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $6,929,000 after acquiring an additional 22,646 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in Navient by 47.0% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,355 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 1,392 shares during the last quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management increased its holdings in Navient by 11.2% during the 3rd quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management now owns 32,140 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $501,000 after purchasing an additional 3,243 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in Navient by 24.6% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 7,360 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $115,000 after purchasing an additional 1,455 shares in the last quarter. 97.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on NAVI shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Navient from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Navient from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Navient from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Navient in a research report on Monday, September 30th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $17.00 target price on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com raised Navient from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $15.75.

Insider Transactions at Navient

In other Navient news, EVP Stephen M. Hauber sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.00, for a total transaction of $150,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 256,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,853,245. This represents a 3.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 27.99% of the company’s stock.

Navient Price Performance

Shares of NAVI stock opened at $15.28 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $15.25 and its 200 day moving average is $15.19. The company has a quick ratio of 9.49, a current ratio of 9.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.59. The stock has a market cap of $1.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.15 and a beta of 1.39. Navient Co. has a twelve month low of $13.71 and a twelve month high of $19.68.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The credit services provider reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $1.20. The firm had revenue of $1.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $150.04 million. Navient had a net margin of 1.71% and a return on equity of 8.62%. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.84 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Navient Co. will post 2.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Navient Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.19%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Navient’s payout ratio is presently 92.75%.

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.