Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eighteen ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $45.06.

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on BBWI shares. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 price target on shares of Bath & Body Works in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Citigroup raised Bath & Body Works from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $40.00 to $48.00 in a report on Friday, February 28th. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 target price (up from $42.00) on shares of Bath & Body Works in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. set a $47.00 price target on shares of Bath & Body Works in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Bath & Body Works from $43.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 3rd.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bath & Body Works during the 3rd quarter worth $735,000. Citigroup Inc. boosted its holdings in Bath & Body Works by 59.8% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 374,664 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,959,000 after buying an additional 140,221 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in Bath & Body Works by 227.2% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 25,093 shares of the company’s stock worth $801,000 after buying an additional 17,423 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its holdings in Bath & Body Works by 12.6% in the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 26,872 shares of the company’s stock valued at $858,000 after buying an additional 3,007 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC increased its holdings in Bath & Body Works by 17,496.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,516,127 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,315,000 after buying an additional 2,501,828 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.14% of the company’s stock.

Bath & Body Works Trading Down 3.0 %

Shares of Bath & Body Works stock opened at $30.93 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $35.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $34.03. Bath & Body Works has a 12-month low of $26.21 and a 12-month high of $52.99. The stock has a market cap of $6.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.54, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.89.

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 the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.05. Bath & Body Works had a net margin of 12.43% and a negative return on equity of 44.03%. The company had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.78 billion. On average, analysts forecast that Bath & Body Works will post 3.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bath & Body Works announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, February 27th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 6.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Bath & Body Works Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. Bath & Body Works’s payout ratio is 21.98%.

About Bath & Body Works

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.