Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI) Stake Lessened by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund lessened its holdings in Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI) by 2.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 502,662 shares of the company’s stock after selling 13,281 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Bath & Body Works were worth $19,488,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BBWI. FMR LLC grew 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 valued at $80,315,000 after purchasing an additional 2,501,828 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its position in 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 purchasing an additional 1,683,160 shares in the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH purchased a new position in shares of Bath & Body Works during the 3rd quarter valued at $50,483,000. Forest Avenue Capital Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Bath & Body Works by 19.1% during the 3rd quarter. Forest Avenue Capital Management LP now owns 1,467,763 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,851,000 after acquiring an additional 235,173 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Bath & Body Works by 111.8% during the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 1,345,777 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,957,000 after acquiring an additional 710,333 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.14% of the company’s stock.

Bath & Body Works Stock Down 4.5 %

Shares of NYSE:BBWI opened at $38.51 on Friday. Bath & Body Works, Inc. has a twelve month low of $26.20 and a twelve month high of $52.99. The company has a market cap of $8.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.39, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.83. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $37.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.87.

Bath & Body Works (NYSE:BBWI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 25th. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.03. Bath & Body Works had a negative return on equity of 44.03% and a net margin of 12.43%. The company had revenue of $1.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.48 earnings per share. Bath & Body Works’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. Bath & Body Works’s payout ratio is presently 19.51%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on BBWI. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Bath & Body Works from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $43.00 price target on shares of Bath & Body Works in a research note on Thursday. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Bath & Body Works from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Bath & Body Works from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $41.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Bath & Body Works from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bath & Body Works has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.63.

Bath & Body Works 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.