Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Sells 506,045 Shares of Navient Co. (NASDAQ:NAVI)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lessened its stake in shares of Navient Co. (NASDAQ:NAVI) by 4.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,930,901 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 506,045 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned approximately 0.09% of Navient worth $174,783,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. State of Wyoming purchased a new stake in Navient in the 4th quarter worth about $62,000. Covestor Ltd grew its stake in shares of Navient by 87.4% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 5,042 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $86,000 after buying an additional 2,352 shares during the last quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Navient by 11.6% in the fourth quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 7,646 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $125,000 after buying an additional 797 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of Navient by 70.6% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,508 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $136,000 after acquiring an additional 3,521 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Laffer Tengler Investments purchased a new position in Navient during the 4th quarter valued at $158,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.85% of the company’s stock.

Navient Stock Performance

Shares of NAVI stock opened at $18.16 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $18.37 and a 200 day moving average of $17.16. Navient Co. has a 1 year low of $12.88 and a 1 year high of $19.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 19.43, a current ratio of 12.78 and a quick ratio of 12.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.24 and a beta of 1.57.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 26th. The credit services provider reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by ($0.06). Navient had a return on equity of 14.62% and a net margin of 8.51%. The firm had revenue of $1.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $228.53 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.92 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Navient Co. will post 3.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Navient Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 15th. Investors of record on Friday, September 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 31st. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.52%. Navient’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.99%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Navient in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Compass Point dropped their price objective on shares of Navient from $19.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 1st. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Navient from $17.00 to $19.00 in a research note on Friday, July 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $18.05.

Insider Activity at Navient

In other Navient news, EVP Mark L. Heleen sold 20,000 shares of Navient stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.01, for a total transaction of $380,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 404,056 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,681,104.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 22.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Navient

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 and asset recovery services on its own loan portfolio, as well as federal education loans held by other institutions.