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

Donald Smith & CO. Inc. decreased its position in shares of Navient Co. (NASDAQ:NAVI) by 83.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 579,092 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 3,002,219 shares during the period. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. owned 0.54% of Navient worth $7,696,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Navient by 47.4% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,315,841 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $17,488,000 after purchasing an additional 423,013 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Navient by 143.0% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 356,405 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $4,737,000 after purchasing an additional 209,744 shares during the period. Prescott Group Capital Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in Navient in the fourth quarter valued at $2,525,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in Navient by 51.3% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 555,634 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $7,384,000 after purchasing an additional 188,399 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ExodusPoint Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Navient during the 4th quarter valued at $2,245,000. 97.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NAVI has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Navient from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Navient from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on Navient from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Navient from $15.00 to $13.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Navient from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $13.50.

Navient Trading Up 2.9 %

Shares of NAVI stock opened at $12.98 on Thursday. Navient Co. has a 52-week low of $12.35 and a 52-week high of $17.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.35, a quick ratio of 9.49 and a current ratio of 9.48. The stock has a market cap of $1.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.19 and a beta of 1.36. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $13.67 and a 200-day moving average of $14.39.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The credit services provider reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.26 by ($0.01). Navient had a return on equity of 6.69% and a net margin of 2.96%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Navient Co. will post 1.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Navient Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.93%. Navient’s payout ratio is currently 55.17%.

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.