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

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Barnes & Noble Education (NYSE:BNED) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Monday morning.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on BNED. Needham & Company LLC raised Barnes & Noble Education from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $16.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, June 26th. Zacks Research raised Barnes & Noble Education to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Northland Securities set a $18.50 target price on Barnes & Noble Education in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Barnes & Noble Education in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $17.25.

Barnes & Noble Education Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BNED opened at $12.59 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $11.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $9.79. Barnes & Noble Education has a 52-week low of $5.90 and a 52-week high of $14.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $436.22 million, a P/E ratio of 26.79 and a beta of 1.29.

Barnes & Noble Education (NYSE:BNED) last issued 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. The company 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, sell-side analysts forecast that Barnes & Noble Education will post 0.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Barnes & Noble Education Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 16th will be given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 16th. Barnes & Noble Education’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Barnes & Noble Education news, CFO Jason Snagusky sold 2,237 shares of Barnes & Noble Education stock in a transaction on Friday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.61, for a total transaction of $25,971.57. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 76,762 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $891,206.82. The trade was a 2.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 5,513 shares of company stock worth $65,973. 1.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in Barnes & Noble Education by 261.1% in the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,972 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 2,872 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd grew its position in Barnes & Noble Education by 205.5% in the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 4,326 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 2,910 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in Barnes & Noble Education by 1,412.1% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 6,139 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 5,733 shares during the period. Copeland Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Barnes & Noble Education during the 1st quarter valued at about $73,000. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Barnes & Noble Education during the 2nd quarter worth about $96,000. 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.