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

Navient Co. (NASDAQ:NAVI) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, November 15th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid 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 4.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th.

Navient has a payout ratio of 42.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NAVI traded down $0.05 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $15.14. The company had a trading volume of 911,774 shares, compared to its average volume of 787,729. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.01 and a beta of 1.39. 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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $15.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $15.22. Navient has a twelve month low of $13.71 and a twelve month high of $19.68.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last announced its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $1.22 billion for 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 quarter last year, the business earned $0.84 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Navient will post 2.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NAVI has been the subject of several recent research reports. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Navient from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Navient from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. StockNews.com raised shares of Navient from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America assumed coverage on Navient in a report on Monday, September 30th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $17.00 target price for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Navient from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $15.75.

Insider Activity

In other Navient news, EVP Stephen M. Hauber sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.00, for a total value of $150,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 256,883 shares in the company, valued at $3,853,245. The trade was a 3.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 27.99% of the company’s stock.

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.