Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and fourteen have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $42.69.

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on BBWI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Bath & Body Works from $47.00 to $41.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Bath & Body Works from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Bath & Body Works from $49.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Citigroup dropped their price target on Bath & Body Works from $48.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on Bath & Body Works from $43.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 3rd.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bath & Body Works

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Amalgamated Bank increased its stake in shares of Bath & Body Works by 45.4% in the 1st quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 99,431 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,015,000 after purchasing an additional 31,029 shares during the last quarter. Hills Bank & Trust Co increased its stake in shares of Bath & Body Works by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Hills Bank & Trust Co now owns 29,144 shares of the company’s stock valued at $884,000 after purchasing an additional 970 shares during the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co increased its stake in shares of Bath & Body Works by 13.4% in the 1st quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 13,309 shares of the company’s stock valued at $404,000 after purchasing an additional 1,571 shares during the last quarter. Graphene Investments SAS increased its stake in shares of Bath & Body Works by 19.1% in the 1st quarter. Graphene Investments SAS now owns 93,400 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,832,000 after purchasing an additional 15,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Bath & Body Works by 94.7% in the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,320 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 642 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.14% of the company’s stock.

Bath & Body Works Stock Down 0.5 %

BBWI stock opened at $29.61 on Wednesday. Bath & Body Works has a twelve month low of $24.96 and a twelve month high of $52.99. The company has a market cap of $6.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.22, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.69. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $31.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $33.86.

Bath & Body Works (NYSE:BBWI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.05. Bath & Body Works had a negative return on equity of 44.03% and a net margin of 12.43%. The company had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.78 billion. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Bath & Body Works will post 3.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bath & Body Works declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, February 27th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 6.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Bath & Body Works Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.70%. Bath & Body Works’s payout ratio is 21.98%.

Bath & Body Works Company Profile

Bath & Body Works, Inc is a specialty retailers and home to America’s Favorite Fragrances, offering a breadth of exclusive fragrances for the body and home, including the selling collections for fine fragrance mist, body lotion and body cream, 3-wick candles, home fragrance diffusers and liquid hand soap.