Barnes & Noble Education Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:BNED)

Barnes & Noble Education, Inc. (NYSE:BNED) saw unusually large options trading on Monday. Stock investors acquired 3,876 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 238% compared to the average volume of 1,148 put options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BNED has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Barnes & Noble Education in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. StockNews.com began coverage on Barnes & Noble Education in a report on Friday, May 3rd. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Craig Hallum reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $1.25 price objective (down previously from $3.00) on shares of Barnes & Noble Education in a report on Thursday, January 11th.

Institutional Trading of Barnes & Noble Education

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Belvedere Trading LLC acquired a new position in Barnes & Noble Education in the third quarter valued at $26,000. PEAK6 Investments LLC raised its stake in Barnes & Noble Education by 258.6% during the third quarter. PEAK6 Investments LLC now owns 46,506 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 33,539 shares during the period. Finally, Greenhaven Road Investment Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Barnes & Noble Education by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Greenhaven Road Investment Management L.P. now owns 5,256,342 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $7,832,000 after purchasing an additional 90,003 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 38.51% of the company’s stock.

Barnes & Noble Education Stock Up 2.7 %

Shares of NYSE:BNED opened at $0.24 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $0.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $0.92. The company has a market capitalization of $12.55 million, a PE ratio of -0.15 and a beta of 2.01. Barnes & Noble Education has a twelve month low of $0.18 and a twelve month high of $2.26.

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

About Barnes & Noble Education

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.