Barnes & Noble Education (NYSE:BNED) Upgraded to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Barnes & Noble Education (NYSE:BNED) was upgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on BNED. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Barnes & Noble Education to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Needham & Company LLC upgraded shares of Barnes & Noble Education from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $16.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, June 26th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Barnes & Noble Education from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Northland Securities set a $18.50 target price on shares of Barnes & Noble Education in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $17.25.

Barnes & Noble Education Stock Performance

Shares of BNED opened at $12.87 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $11.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $9.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 1.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $445.64 million, a PE ratio of 27.37 and a beta of 1.29. Barnes & Noble Education has a 1 year low of $5.90 and a 1 year high of $14.75.

Barnes & Noble Education (NYSE:BNED) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 9th. The specialty retailer reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $267.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $267.55 million. Barnes & Noble Education had a net margin of 0.98% and a return on equity of 7.92%. On average, analysts predict that Barnes & Noble Education will post 0.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Barnes & Noble Education news, CFO Jason Snagusky sold 2,237 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.61, for a total value of $25,971.57. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 76,762 shares in the company, valued at $891,206.82. This represents a 2.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 5,513 shares of company stock valued at $65,973 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Barnes & Noble Education

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Kanen Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Barnes & Noble Education by 30.6% in the first quarter. Kanen Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,090,043 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $32,445,000 after acquiring an additional 724,683 shares in the last quarter. Prescott Group Capital Management L.L.C. increased its position in shares of Barnes & Noble Education by 186.5% during the fourth quarter. Prescott Group Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 881,799 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $8,104,000 after purchasing an additional 573,992 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in shares of Barnes & Noble Education by 261.1% during the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,972 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 2,872 shares in the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Barnes & Noble Education by 205.5% in the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 4,326 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 2,910 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Wyoming purchased a new stake in shares of Barnes & Noble Education in the 4th quarter valued at about $134,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 38.51% of the company’s stock.

Barnes & Noble Education Company Profile

Barnes & Noble Education, Inc (NYSE: BNED) is a leading provider of educational products and services to the higher education community. The company operates retail campus bookstores under Barnes & Noble College, offering course materials, general merchandise, and digital content. In addition, Barnes & Noble Education delivers educational technology solutions through its digital learning platform and supplemental courseware.

Originally part of Barnes & Noble, Inc, the company completed its spin-off and initial public offering in February 2015 to focus exclusively on college retail and digital learning.