Needham & Company LLC Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Barnes & Noble Education (NYSE:BNED)

Barnes & Noble Education (NYSE:BNED)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by Needham & Company LLC in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $16.00 target price on the specialty retailer’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price suggests a potential upside of 43.69% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also commented on BNED. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Barnes & Noble Education from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Zacks Research upgraded Barnes & Noble Education to a “hold” rating in a 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, Wall Street Zen cut Barnes & Noble Education from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $17.25.

Barnes & Noble Education Trading Down 9.1%

NYSE:BNED traded down $1.11 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $11.13. The company had a trading volume of 609,938 shares, compared to its average volume of 296,602. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.71 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $12.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $10.72. The company has a market capitalization of $386.05 million, a PE ratio of 23.63 and a beta of 1.27. Barnes & Noble Education has a 52 week low of $5.90 and a 52 week high of $14.75.

Barnes & Noble Education (NYSE:BNED) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 8th. The specialty retailer reported ($0.37) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.48) by $0.11. Barnes & Noble Education had a net margin of 0.98% and a return on equity of 7.92%. The business had revenue of $290.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $306.66 million. On average, equities research analysts predict that Barnes & Noble Education will post 0.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 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 in the company, valued at approximately $907,071.68. This represents a 6.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 10,513 shares of company stock valued at $129,173 in the last 90 days. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Barnes & Noble Education

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in BNED. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in shares of 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 worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 2,872 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its position in Barnes & Noble Education by 225.6% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 2,839 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 1,967 shares in the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd increased its position in Barnes & Noble Education by 205.5% during 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 raised its stake in 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 valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 5,733 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Copeland Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Barnes & Noble Education during the first quarter valued at $73,000. 38.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Barnes & Noble Education Company Profile

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.