Donald Smith & CO. Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Navient Co. (NASDAQ:NAVI)

Donald Smith & CO. Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Navient Co. (NASDAQ:NAVI) by 21.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,801,338 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 785,944 shares during the quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. owned about 2.51% of Navient worth $40,787,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Navient by 15.4% during the 4th quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 16,545 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $308,000 after acquiring an additional 2,206 shares during the period. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new position in Navient in the 4th quarter valued at about $248,000. Trexquant Investment LP purchased a new stake in shares of Navient in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $347,000. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Navient in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $394,000. Finally, Focus Financial Network Inc. ADV acquired a new stake in shares of Navient during the 4th quarter worth approximately $278,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NAVI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays cut their target price on Navient from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Navient from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $15.56.

Navient Trading Up 2.0 %

NASDAQ NAVI opened at $15.77 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.30, a quick ratio of 9.99 and a current ratio of 9.99. The firm has a market cap of $1.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.11 and a beta of 1.39. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $15.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $15.60. Navient Co. has a one year low of $13.95 and a one year high of $19.68.

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

Navient Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.06%. Navient’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.03%.

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 on its portfolios, as well as federal education loans held by other institutions.