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

Navient Co. (NASDAQ:NAVI) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 21st, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be paid a dividend of 0.16 per share by the credit services provider on Friday, March 21st. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.56%.

Navient has a payout ratio of 45.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Navient to earn $1.41 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 45.4%.

Navient Stock Performance

Shares of NAVI traded down $0.05 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $14.02. The company had a trading volume of 650,573 shares, compared to its average volume of 869,158. Navient has a 52-week low of $12.73 and a 52-week high of $17.56. The company has a quick ratio of 9.49, a current ratio of 9.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.09 and a beta of 1.43. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $13.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $14.80.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on NAVI shares. TD Cowen lowered their price target on Navient from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Navient from $15.00 to $13.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Navient from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Bank of America lowered their price target on Navient from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Navient from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $13.90.

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.