Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Acquires 445,887 Shares of Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI - Free Report) by 5.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,494,089 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 445,887 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned 3.92% of Bath & Body Works worth $329,317,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its holdings in shares of Bath & Body Works by 32.6% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 52,784 shares of the company's stock worth $2,046,000 after buying an additional 12,964 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in Bath & Body Works by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 88,423 shares of the company's stock worth $3,428,000 after purchasing an additional 4,625 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Bath & Body Works by 13.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,704,625 shares of the company's stock worth $66,088,000 after purchasing an additional 195,813 shares during the period. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Bath & Body Works in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,350,000. Finally, 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 worth $200,768,000 after purchasing an additional 1,360,264 shares during the last quarter. 95.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on BBWI. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Bath & Body Works from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Bath & Body Works from $47.00 to $41.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Bath & Body Works from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price target for the company from $42.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Piper Sandler upgraded Bath & Body Works from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $38.00 to $35.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Argus reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Bath & Body Works in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Bath & Body Works has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $42.69.

Bath & Body Works Trading Down 1.2 %

Bath & Body Works stock traded down $0.39 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $30.83. The company had a trading volume of 3,526,647 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,789,287. The company has a market capitalization of $6.60 billion, a PE ratio of 7.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.69. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $31.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $33.86. Bath & Body Works, Inc. has a 12 month low of $24.96 and a 12 month high of $52.99.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.78 billion. Bath & Body Works had a negative return on equity of 44.03% and a net margin of 12.43%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Bath & Body Works, Inc. will post 3.3 EPS for the current year.

Bath & Body Works Announces Dividend

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

Bath & Body Works declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, February 27th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 6.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.