Insider Selling: Barnes & Noble Education (NYSE:BNED) CFO Sells 5,000 Shares of Stock

Barnes & Noble Education, Inc (NYSE:BNED) CFO Jason Snagusky sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.64, for a total transaction of $63,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 71,762 shares in the company, valued at $907,071.68. This trade represents a 6.51% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Jason Snagusky also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, July 10th, Jason Snagusky sold 2,237 shares of Barnes & Noble Education stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.61, for a total transaction of $25,971.57.
• On Thursday, July 2nd, Jason Snagusky sold 2,210 shares of Barnes & Noble Education stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.50, for a total transaction of $27,625.00.

Barnes & Noble Education Price Performance

NYSE:BNED traded down $0.14 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $12.70. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 68,939 shares, compared to its average volume of 310,255. The company has a market capitalization of $439.96 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.04 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Barnes & Noble Education, Inc has a fifty-two week low of $5.90 and a fifty-two week high of $14.75. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $11.34 and a 200-day moving average of $9.91.

Barnes & Noble Education (NYSE:BNED) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 9th. The specialty retailer reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $267.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $267.55 million. Barnes & Noble Education had a return on equity of 7.92% and a net margin of 0.98%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Barnes & Noble Education, Inc will post 0.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Barnes & Noble Education Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 16th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 16th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. Barnes & Noble Education’s dividend payout ratio is 68.09%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Barnes & Noble Education

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BNED. Kanen Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Barnes & Noble Education by 30.6% during the 1st quarter. Kanen Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,090,043 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $32,445,000 after buying an additional 724,683 shares during the period. Prescott Group Capital Management L.L.C. grew its position in shares of Barnes & Noble Education by 186.5% during the 4th quarter. Prescott Group Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 881,799 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $8,104,000 after buying an additional 573,992 shares during the period. PharVision Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Barnes & Noble Education in the third quarter valued at $114,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund acquired a new position in Barnes & Noble Education during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $100,000. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Barnes & Noble Education during the second quarter worth approximately $96,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 38.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on BNED shares. Wall Street Zen raised Barnes & Noble Education from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Barnes & Noble Education to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Northland Securities set a $18.50 price target on shares of Barnes & Noble Education in a research note on Friday, June 26th. 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. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised Barnes & Noble Education from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $16.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Barnes & Noble Education currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $17.25.

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.