Short Interest in Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI) Rises By 31.0%

Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 6,000,000 shares, an increase of 31.0% from the February 13th total of 4,580,000 shares. Currently, 2.8% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 4,010,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.5 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bath & Body Works

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BBWI. D1 Capital Partners L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Bath & Body Works during the 4th quarter worth about $109,797,000. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Bath & Body Works by 17,496.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,516,127 shares of the company’s stock worth $80,315,000 after acquiring an additional 2,501,828 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Bath & Body Works during the 4th quarter worth about $73,572,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of Bath & Body Works by 79.1% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,882,047 shares of the company’s stock worth $150,507,000 after acquiring an additional 1,715,096 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Erste Asset Management GmbH acquired a new position in Bath & Body Works during the third quarter worth approximately $50,483,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on BBWI shares. Citigroup upgraded Bath & Body Works from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $40.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Bath & Body Works from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 target price on shares of Bath & Body Works in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 price objective (up from $42.00) on shares of Bath & Body Works in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price objective on Bath & Body Works from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $45.06.

Bath & Body Works Stock Performance

Shares of BBWI opened at $29.97 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $36.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $33.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.49 billion, a PE ratio of 7.31, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.89. Bath & Body Works has a 1 year low of $26.21 and a 1 year high of $52.99.

Bath & Body Works (NYSE:BBWI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $2.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.78 billion. Analysts predict that Bath & Body Works will post 3.3 EPS for the current year.

Bath & Body Works announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, February 27th that allows the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 6.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Bath & Body Works Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. Bath & Body Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.