Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI) Downgraded by Zacks Investment Research

Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI) was downgraded by Zacks Investment Research from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued on Monday, July 17th.

According to Zacks, “Navient’s shares have outperformed the Zacks categorized Consumer Loan industry over the past one year. However, estimates have declined lately ahead of the company’s Q2 earnings release. Also, the company has mixed record of earnings surprises in recent quarters. The U.S. student loan industry is currently under heightened regulatory scrutiny over alleged anti-consumer practices. Navient, which services large number of student loans, is under regulatory claims and litigation burden owing to its practices in handling loans. Moreover, elevated expenses remain a key concern for the company. Nevertheless, the company benefits from the ongoing economic recovery and remains focused on leveraging its asset recovery & processing businesses.”

NAVI has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “buy” rating and set a $20.00 target price on shares of Navient Corporation in a research note on Friday, July 14th. BidaskClub raised shares of Navient Corporation from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 17th. Jefferies Group LLC reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Navient Corporation in a research note on Monday, June 12th. J P Morgan Chase & Co lowered their target price on shares of Navient Corporation from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 3rd. Finally, Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $16.50 target price on shares of Navient Corporation in a research note on Tuesday, April 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Navient Corporation has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $18.55.

Shares of Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI) opened at 14.27 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.40 and a beta of 2.43. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $15.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $15.18. Navient Corporation has a one year low of $12.66 and a one year high of $17.95.

Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 18th. The credit services provider reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $343 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $331.67 million. Navient Corporation had a net margin of 11.50% and a return on equity of 14.05%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.47 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Navient Corporation will post $1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its stake in Navient Corporation by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 10,420 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $171,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in Navient Corporation by 45.1% in the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 1,154,972 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $19,231,000 after buying an additional 359,227 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia bought a new stake in Navient Corporation during the first quarter worth approximately $884,000. Ledyard National Bank bought a new stake in Navient Corporation during the first quarter worth approximately $202,000. Finally, Oxford Asset Management bought a new stake in Navient Corporation during the first quarter worth approximately $1,527,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.45% of the company’s stock.

About Navient Corporation

Navient Corporation provides asset management and business processing services to education, healthcare and government clients at the federal, state and local levels. The Company holds the portfolio of education loans insured or federally guaranteed under the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP).

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