Bath & Body Works Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:BBWI)

Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI - Get Free Report) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock traders purchased 21,124 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 260% compared to the typical daily volume of 5,875 put options.

Institutional Trading of Bath & Body Works

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. D1 Capital Partners L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Bath & Body Works during the 4th quarter worth approximately $109,797,000. FMR LLC increased its position in Bath & Body Works by 17,496.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,516,127 shares of the company's stock worth $80,315,000 after buying an additional 2,501,828 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Bath & Body Works in the fourth quarter worth $73,572,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in shares of Bath & Body Works by 79.1% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,882,047 shares of the company's stock valued at $150,507,000 after acquiring an additional 1,715,096 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its stake in shares of Bath & Body Works by 9,023.5% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,701,813 shares of the company's stock valued at $54,322,000 after acquiring an additional 1,683,160 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.14% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the company. Citigroup raised Bath & Body Works from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $40.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Friday. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Bath & Body Works from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Bath & Body Works from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $42.00 to $48.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Bath & Body Works from $51.00 to $48.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Raymond James restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $46.00 target price (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Bath & Body Works in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bath & Body Works currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $45.06.

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Bath & Body Works Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE:BBWI traded down $0.85 during trading on Monday, hitting $35.38. 6,003,122 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,816,168. The company has a market cap of $7.66 billion, a PE ratio of 8.63, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.83. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $37.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $34.15. Bath & Body Works has a 12-month low of $26.20 and a 12-month high of $52.99.

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

Bath & Body Works declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Bath & Body Works Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.26%. 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.