First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Purchases 1,491 Shares of Navient Co. (NASDAQ:NAVI)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its position in shares of Navient Co. (NASDAQ:NAVI) by 12.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,942 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,491 shares during the quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Navient were worth $217,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. raised its stake in Navient by 27.8% during the third quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 3,581,311 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $55,833,000 after buying an additional 779,973 shares during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in Navient during the third quarter valued at $87,000. Creative Planning increased its holdings in shares of Navient by 32.2% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 55,387 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $863,000 after purchasing an additional 13,497 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its holdings in shares of Navient by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 45,584 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $711,000 after purchasing an additional 1,218 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Navient by 35.6% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 44,632 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $696,000 after purchasing an additional 11,723 shares in the last quarter. 97.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on NAVI. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Navient from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Navient from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Bank of America began coverage on Navient in a report on Monday, September 30th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $17.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com raised Navient from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Navient from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $15.78.

Navient Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NAVI opened at $14.22 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $15.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $15.25. Navient Co. has a 52-week low of $13.71 and a 52-week high of $19.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.59, a quick ratio of 9.49 and a current ratio of 9.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.53 billion, a PE ratio of 20.61 and a beta of 1.39.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The credit services provider reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $1.20. Navient had a return on equity of 8.62% and a net margin of 1.71%. The business had revenue of $1.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $150.04 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.84 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Navient Co. will post 1.79 EPS for the current year.

Navient Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th were given a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.50%. Navient’s payout ratio is 92.75%.

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.