Eric Singer, a director and major holder at Barnes & Noble Education (BNED), recently bought 18,000 shares. The buy increased his position by less than 1%, and came to total cost of $146,630.
The buy follows on another purchase by the director earlier in the month for 87,000 shares, valued at $606,576. Another company director also bought 130,000 shares, for just over $921,800. There have been no insider sales over the past year.
Overall, Barnes & Noble Education insiders own 59.6% of shares.
Shares of the college and university campus bookstore operator are up over 560% in the past year.
Despite that strong stock performance, the company has fared flat operationally, with revenues declining 3% in the past year, and without turning a profit.
Meanwhile, BNED also has a somewhat leveraged balance sheet, with about $2 in debt for every $1 in equity now.
Action to take: Shares have trended higher in recent sessions on the announcement of some new products. But until BNED can move to profitability, shares may simply continue their longer-term trend lower. Investors should avoid shares at current prices.
For traders, options are limited. But the October $1.00 puts, last trading for about $0.90, have relatively high volume and could see double-digit gains on a pullback after the recent short-term rally. Traders should look to take quick profits.
Disclosure: The author of this article has no position in the company mentioned here, but may trade after the next 72 hours. The author receives no compensation from any company mentioned in this article.