Barnes & Noble Education (NYSE:BNED) Lowered to Hold Rating by Wall Street Zen

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

BNED has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Zacks Research upgraded Barnes & Noble Education to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Needham & Company LLC raised Barnes & Noble Education from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $16.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Barnes & Noble Education in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Northland Securities set a $18.50 price objective on Barnes & Noble Education in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Barnes & Noble Education presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.25.

Barnes & Noble Education Stock Performance

BNED stock opened at $12.59 on Monday. Barnes & Noble Education has a 1-year low of $5.90 and a 1-year high of $14.75. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $11.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.77. The company has a market capitalization of $436.12 million, a P/E ratio of 26.79 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.71 and a quick ratio of 0.66.

Barnes & Noble Education (NYSE:BNED) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 9th. The specialty retailer reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.03. Barnes & Noble Education had a net margin of 0.98% and a return on equity of 7.92%. The business had revenue of $267.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $267.55 million. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Barnes & Noble Education will post 0.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Barnes & Noble Education news, CFO Jason Snagusky sold 2,237 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.61, for a total value of $25,971.57. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 76,762 shares in the company, valued at approximately $891,206.82. This trade represents a 2.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders sold 5,513 shares of company stock worth $65,973. 1.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Barnes & Noble Education

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of Barnes & Noble Education by 1,412.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 6,139 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $62,000 after buying an additional 5,733 shares during the last quarter. Kanen Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Barnes & Noble Education by 30.6% in the 1st 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 during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Barnes & Noble Education by 96.6% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 104,205 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,094,000 after acquiring an additional 51,190 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Barnes & Noble Education by 123.2% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 402,109 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $4,734,000 after acquiring an additional 221,936 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers purchased a new position in Barnes & Noble Education in the 2nd quarter worth $344,000. 38.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.