Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI) Given Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Shares of Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI - Get Free Report) have been given a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by the eighteen research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and fourteen have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $42.69.

Several research analysts recently issued reports on BBWI shares. Raymond James reduced their target price on shares of Bath & Body Works from $46.00 to $37.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Argus reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Bath & Body Works in a report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Bath & Body Works from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $42.00 to $48.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased 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. Finally, Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Bath & Body Works in a research note on Thursday, February 27th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bath & Body Works

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in BBWI. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Bath & Body Works by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,199,787 shares of the company's stock worth $1,093,306,000 after buying an additional 208,036 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Bath & Body Works by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,235,086 shares of the company's stock worth $396,815,000 after acquiring an additional 422,973 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Bath & Body Works by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,494,089 shares of the company's stock valued at $329,317,000 after acquiring an additional 445,887 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Bath & Body Works by 35.6% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,178,447 shares of the company's stock valued at $200,768,000 after purchasing an additional 1,360,264 shares during the period. Finally, Anomaly Capital Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Bath & Body Works by 38.3% in the fourth quarter. Anomaly Capital Management LP now owns 4,860,876 shares of the company's stock valued at $188,456,000 after purchasing an additional 1,346,752 shares during the period. 95.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bath & Body Works Price Performance

Shares of BBWI stock opened at $28.77 on Wednesday. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $31.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $33.85. Bath & Body Works has a 1-year low of $24.96 and a 1-year high of $52.99. The company has a market cap of $6.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.69.

Bath & Body Works (NYSE:BBWI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 the consensus estimate of $2.78 billion. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Bath & Body Works will post 3.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Bath & Body Works Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. Bath & Body Works's dividend payout ratio is currently 21.98%.

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

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.

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