Barnes & Noble Education (NYSE:BNED) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Barnes & Noble Education (NYSE:BNED) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Tuesday.

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

Barnes & Noble Education Price Performance

BNED opened at $12.38 on Tuesday. Barnes & Noble Education has a fifty-two week low of $5.90 and a fifty-two week high of $14.75. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $11.56 and a 200 day moving average of $10.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 1.71. The firm has a market cap of $429.02 million, a P/E ratio of 26.35 and a beta of 1.29.

Barnes & Noble Education (NYSE:BNED) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 9th. The specialty retailer reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $267.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $267.55 million. On average, research analysts expect that Barnes & Noble Education will post 0.71 EPS for the current year.

Barnes & Noble Education Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 16th were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 16th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. Barnes & Noble Education’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Barnes & Noble Education

In other news, CFO Jason Snagusky sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.64, for a total value of $63,200.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 71,762 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $907,071.68. The trade was a 6.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 10,513 shares of company stock valued at $129,173 in the last three months. 1.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in Barnes & Noble Education by 261.1% in the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,972 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 2,872 shares in the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd lifted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 2,910 shares in the last quarter. 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 acquiring an additional 5,733 shares in the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Barnes & Noble Education in the first quarter worth $73,000. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Barnes & Noble Education in the second quarter worth $96,000. 38.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.