Navient Co. (NASDAQ:NAVI) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.16

Navient Co. (NASDAQ:NAVI) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, November 13th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of 0.16 per share by the credit services provider on Friday, December 20th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th.

Navient has a payout ratio of 43.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Navient to earn $1.46 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.64 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 43.8%.

Navient Trading Down 1.3 %

Navient stock opened at $15.08 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 9.49, a quick ratio of 9.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.59. Navient has a 12-month low of $13.71 and a 12-month high of $19.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.86 and a beta of 1.40. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $15.25 and a 200 day moving average of $15.19.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The credit services provider reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $1.20. Navient had a net margin of 1.71% and a return on equity of 8.62%. The firm had revenue of $1.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $150.04 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.84 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Navient will post 2.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Navient

In other Navient news, EVP Stephen M. Hauber sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 256,883 shares in the company, valued at $3,853,245. This trade represents a 3.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 27.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NAVI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Navient from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Navient from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Barclays upped their price target on Navient from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Navient in a research report on Monday, September 30th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $17.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their target price 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $15.75.

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.