Traders Purchase Large Volume of Barnes & Noble Education Call Options (NYSE:BNED)

Barnes & Noble Education, Inc. (NYSE:BNED) saw unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders bought 2,852 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 192% compared to the average daily volume of 976 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on BNED shares. StockNews.com lowered Barnes & Noble Education from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 28th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Barnes & Noble Education in a report on Friday, January 12th. Finally, Craig Hallum restated a “hold” rating and issued a $1.25 target price (down from $3.00) on shares of Barnes & Noble Education in a research note on Thursday, January 11th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BNED. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Barnes & Noble Education by 390.7% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 774,889 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $2,270,000 after buying an additional 616,984 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Barnes & Noble Education by 34.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,452,248 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $2,541,000 after purchasing an additional 374,083 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP grew its stake in shares of Barnes & Noble Education by 126.8% during the 1st quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 430,835 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $655,000 after purchasing an additional 240,836 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Barnes & Noble Education by 249.8% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 311,300 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,114,000 after purchasing an additional 222,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Engineers Gate Manager LP lifted its stake in shares of Barnes & Noble Education by 491.7% in the 1st quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 203,549 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $729,000 after purchasing an additional 169,149 shares during the period. 38.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Barnes & Noble Education Stock Performance

Shares of BNED stock traded down $0.38 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $0.32. 10,379,878 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,227,849. Barnes & Noble Education has a fifty-two week low of $0.18 and a fifty-two week high of $2.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a current ratio of 0.90. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $0.75 and its 200-day moving average is $1.00.

Barnes & Noble Education (NYSE:BNED) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 12th. The specialty retailer reported ($0.02) EPS for the quarter. Barnes & Noble Education had a negative return on equity of 51.52% and a negative net margin of 5.22%. The company had revenue of $456.67 million for the quarter.

Barnes & Noble Education Company Profile

Barnes & Noble Education, Inc operates bookstores for college and university campuses, and K-12 institutions in the United States. It operates through Retail and Wholesale segments. The company sells and rents new and used print textbooks, digital textbooks, and publisher hosted digital courseware through physical and virtual bookstores, as well as directly to students through Textbooks.com.