TD Cowen Upgrades Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) to “Hold”

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) was upgraded by TD Cowen from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Navient from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Navient from $15.00 to $13.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on Navient from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Seaport Res Ptn raised Navient from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Navient from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.50.

Navient Stock Up 2.9 %

NASDAQ:NAVI opened at $12.98 on Wednesday. Navient has a 52 week low of $12.35 and a 52 week high of $17.56. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $13.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $14.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.19 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a quick ratio of 9.49, a current ratio of 9.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.35.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) last announced 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 net margin of 2.96% and a return on equity of 6.69%. Research analysts anticipate that Navient will post 1.04 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Navient

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of NAVI. Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Navient by 815.0% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 2,443 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 2,176 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Navient in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $167,000. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Navient by 16.3% in the fourth quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP now owns 12,877 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $171,000 after acquiring an additional 1,804 shares during the period. Twinbeech Capital LP acquired a new stake in Navient during the 4th quarter worth $173,000. Finally, Paloma Partners Management Co purchased a new position in Navient during the 3rd quarter worth $174,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.14% 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.