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

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Barnes & Noble Education (NYSE:BNED) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Saturday.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. 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 report on Friday, June 26th. Northland Securities set a $18.50 price target on Barnes & Noble Education in a report on Friday, June 26th. Weiss Ratings raised Barnes & Noble Education from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Zacks Research raised Barnes & Noble Education to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Two research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Barnes & Noble Education currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $17.25.

Barnes & Noble Education Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of NYSE BNED opened at $12.71 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $11.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $10.20. The company has a market capitalization of $440.27 million, a P/E ratio of 27.04 and a beta of 1.27. 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 has a 1 year low of $5.90 and a 1 year high of $14.75.

Barnes & Noble Education (NYSE:BNED) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 9th. The specialty retailer reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $267.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $267.55 million. On average, equities research analysts predict that Barnes & Noble Education will post 0.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Barnes & Noble Education Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 16th were given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 16th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. Barnes & Noble Education’s payout ratio is presently 68.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Barnes & Noble Education news, CFO Jason Snagusky sold 5,000 shares of the company’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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 71,762 shares in the company, valued at $907,071.68. This represents a 6.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders sold 10,513 shares of company stock worth $129,173 in the last 90 days. 1.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Barnes & Noble Education

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BNED. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in 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 increased its stake in Barnes & Noble Education by 205.5% during the fourth quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 4,326 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 2,910 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Barnes & Noble Education during the first quarter worth about $73,000. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Barnes & Noble Education in the second quarter valued at approximately $96,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.