Martingale Asset Management L P Takes Position in Nelnet, Inc. $NNI

Martingale Asset Management L P acquired a new stake in Nelnet, Inc. (NYSE:NNI) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 15,567 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,727,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. KBC Group NV bought a new stake in shares of Nelnet in the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Nelnet by 576.5% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 460 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 392 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in Nelnet by 292.1% in the first quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 698 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $77,000 after purchasing an additional 520 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S acquired a new stake in Nelnet in the first quarter worth about $117,000. Finally, Man Group plc acquired a new stake in Nelnet in the fourth quarter worth about $202,000. 33.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Wall Street Zen upgraded Nelnet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th.

Nelnet Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE NNI opened at $130.3180 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.27, a current ratio of 29.42 and a quick ratio of 29.41. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $122.36 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $115.52. Nelnet, Inc. has a one year low of $98.15 and a one year high of $130.72. The firm has a market cap of $4.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.43 and a beta of 0.90.

Nelnet (NYSE:NNI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The credit services provider reported $5.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.91 by $3.14. Nelnet had a return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 14.86%.The company had revenue of $540.61 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $376.40 million. On average, equities analysts forecast that Nelnet, Inc. will post 4.52 EPS for the current year.

Nelnet announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 8th that allows the company to buyback 5,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the credit services provider to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Nelnet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. This is a positive change from Nelnet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 2nd. Nelnet’s dividend payout ratio is 12.40%.

About Nelnet

Nelnet, Inc engages in loan servicing, communications, education technology, services, and payment processing businesses worldwide. The Loan Servicing and Systems segment provides loan conversion, application processing, borrower updates, customer service, payment processing, due diligence procedures, funds management reconciliation, and claim processing services.