Wall Street Zen Downgrades Barnes & Noble Education (NYSE:BNED) to Hold

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

A number of other research analysts have also commented on the stock. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Barnes & Noble Education to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. 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. Northland Securities set a $18.50 price objective on Barnes & Noble Education in a report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upgraded Barnes & Noble Education from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $16.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.25.

Barnes & Noble Education Stock Down 0.2%

BNED opened at $12.78 on Friday. Barnes & Noble Education has a 1-year low of $5.90 and a 1-year high of $14.75. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $11.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $10.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The stock has a market cap of $442.66 million, a PE ratio of 27.19 and a beta of 1.27.

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

Insider Activity

In other Barnes & Noble Education news, CFO Jason Snagusky sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.64, for a total transaction of $63,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 71,762 shares in the company, valued at $907,071.68. This represents a 6.51% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 10,513 shares of company stock worth $129,173. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Barnes & Noble Education

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BNED. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its position in shares of Barnes & Noble Education by 261.1% during the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,972 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 2,872 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd raised its stake in Barnes & Noble Education by 205.5% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in Barnes & Noble Education by 1,412.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 6,139 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 5,733 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. bought a new stake in Barnes & Noble Education during the second quarter worth about $96,000. Finally, Copeland Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Barnes & Noble Education during the first quarter worth about $73,000. 38.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Barnes & Noble Education

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.