Barnes & Noble Education (NYSE:BNED) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wall Street Zen

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

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on the company. Northland Securities set a $18.50 price target on Barnes & Noble Education in a research note on Friday, June 26th. 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 research note on Friday, June 26th. Zacks Research raised shares of Barnes & Noble Education to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Barnes & Noble Education from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Barnes & Noble Education has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $17.25.

Barnes & Noble Education Price Performance

Barnes & Noble Education stock opened at $12.56 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $11.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $9.98. Barnes & Noble Education has a one year low of $5.90 and a one year high of $14.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.71 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The firm has a market cap of $435.11 million, a PE ratio of 26.73 and a beta of 1.29.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $267.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $267.55 million. Barnes & Noble Education had a return on equity of 7.92% and a net margin of 0.98%. As a group, research analysts expect that Barnes & Noble Education will post 0.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Jason Snagusky sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.64, for a total transaction of $63,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 71,762 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $907,071.68. The trade was a 6.51% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 10,513 shares of company stock valued at $129,173. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Barnes & Noble Education

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in Barnes & Noble Education by 119.6% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 355,943 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $3,143,000 after acquiring an additional 193,876 shares during the last quarter. Kanen Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Barnes & Noble Education by 0.7% during the first quarter. Kanen Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,423,782 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $30,232,000 after acquiring an additional 23,800 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. acquired a new position in Barnes & Noble Education during the first quarter worth about $102,000. Copeland Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Barnes & Noble Education in the first quarter worth about $73,000. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Barnes & Noble Education by 557.7% in the fourth quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 9,313 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $86,000 after acquiring an additional 7,897 shares during the last quarter. 38.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.