Bath & Body Works Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:BBWI)

Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI - Get Free Report) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Stock traders purchased 16,219 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 157% compared to the typical daily volume of 6,317 put options.

Institutional Trading of Bath & Body Works

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of 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 period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Bath & Body Works by 4.3% in 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 last quarter. 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 worth $329,317,000 after purchasing an additional 445,887 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its position in shares of Bath & Body Works by 35.6% during the 4th 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 period. Finally, Anomaly Capital Management LP increased its holdings in Bath & Body Works by 38.3% in the 4th 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 last quarter. 95.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Bath & Body Works Price Performance

Shares of BBWI traded up $0.14 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $30.24. The stock had a trading volume of 42,058,293 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,264,684. Bath & Body Works has a 52-week low of $26.21 and a 52-week high of $52.99. The firm has a market cap of $6.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.38, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.89. The business's fifty day moving average is $35.83 and its 200 day moving average is $33.93.

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. The business had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.78 billion. Bath & Body Works had a net margin of 12.43% and a negative return on equity of 44.03%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Bath & Body Works will post 3.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bath & Body Works Dividend Announcement

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 $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.65%. Bath & Body Works's dividend payout ratio is currently 21.98%.

Bath & Body Works declared that its board has authorized 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 purchase up to 6.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on BBWI. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Bath & Body Works from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Raymond James reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $46.00 price target (up from $42.00) on shares of Bath & Body Works in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Bath & Body Works from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $42.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Bath & Body Works from $51.00 to $48.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Bath & Body Works in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bath & Body Works currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $45.06.

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.