Barnes & Noble Education (NYSE:BNED) Share Price Passes Above 50-Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Shares of Barnes & Noble Education, Inc (NYSE:BNED) crossed above its 50-day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 50-day moving average of $11.75 and traded as high as $13.11. Barnes & Noble Education shares last traded at $12.9270, with a volume of 214,805 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on BNED shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Barnes & Noble Education from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Wall Street Zen upgraded Barnes & Noble Education from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Northland Securities set a $18.50 price target on shares of Barnes & Noble Education in a report on Friday, June 26th. Zacks Research raised shares of Barnes & Noble Education to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upgraded Barnes & Noble Education from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $16.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Barnes & Noble Education currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $17.25.

Barnes & Noble Education Trading Down 0.6%

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’s fifty day moving average price is $11.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $10.14. The stock has a market cap of $436.67 million, a P/E ratio of 26.82 and a beta of 1.27.

Barnes & Noble Education (NYSE:BNED) last released its earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $267.55 million. Barnes & Noble Education had a return on equity of 7.92% and a net margin of 0.98%. Equities research analysts expect that Barnes & Noble Education, Inc will post 0.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Barnes & Noble Education Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 was Thursday, July 16th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. Barnes & Noble Education’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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 dated Friday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.64, for a total value of $63,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 10,513 shares of company stock valued at $129,173 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased 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 worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 2,872 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 2,910 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Barnes & Noble Education by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 30,215 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $278,000 after purchasing an additional 3,550 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Barnes & Noble Education by 10.2% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 51,365 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $511,000 after buying an additional 4,770 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its stake in Barnes & Noble Education by 46.2% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 18,065 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $166,000 after acquiring an additional 5,712 shares in the last quarter. 38.51% of the stock is currently 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.