Short Interest in Barnes & Noble Education, Inc. (NYSE:BNED) Declines By 7.1%

Barnes & Noble Education, Inc. (NYSE:BNED) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,040,000 shares, a decrease of 7.1% from the February 29th total of 1,120,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,220,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.9 days. Approximately 2.8% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on BNED shares. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Barnes & Noble Education in a research report on Friday, January 12th. Craig Hallum reissued 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. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Barnes & Noble Education from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 28th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Belvedere Trading LLC bought a new position in Barnes & Noble Education in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Barnes & Noble Education in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. State of Wyoming boosted its holdings in shares of Barnes & Noble Education by 489.3% in the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 15,304 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 12,707 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Barnes & Noble Education in the first quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, Caption Management LLC grew its position in Barnes & Noble Education by 241.4% during the second quarter. Caption Management LLC now owns 23,772 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 16,808 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 38.51% of the company’s stock.

Barnes & Noble Education Price Performance

Shares of BNED opened at $0.64 on Wednesday. Barnes & Noble Education has a twelve month low of $0.52 and a twelve month high of $2.26. The company has a market capitalization of $34.27 million, a P/E ratio of -0.41 and a beta of 1.82. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $0.79 and a 200 day moving average of $1.02. The company has a quick ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

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.