Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $45.06.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Bath & Body Works from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 price objective (up from $42.00) on shares of Bath & Body Works in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Bath & Body Works from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Bath & Body Works from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Bath & Body Works from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $40.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Bath & Body Works by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,982 shares of the company’s stock worth $271,000 after purchasing an additional 324 shares during the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Bath & Body Works by 99.7% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 659 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 329 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Bath & Body Works by 24.2% in the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,697 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 331 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of Bath & Body Works by 58.8% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 905 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 335 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northwest Bank & Trust Co raised its stake in shares of Bath & Body Works by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Northwest Bank & Trust Co now owns 14,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $533,000 after purchasing an additional 419 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.14% of the company’s stock.

Bath & Body Works Price Performance

BBWI opened at $32.66 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $34.17. Bath & Body Works has a 1 year low of $26.20 and a 1 year high of $52.99. The firm has a market cap of $7.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.97, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.89.

Bath & Body Works (NYSE:BBWI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $2.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.78 billion. Bath & Body Works had a negative return on equity of 44.03% and a net margin of 12.43%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Bath & Body Works will post 3.3 EPS for the current year.

Bath & Body Works Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. Bath & Body Works’s payout ratio is 21.98%.

Bath & Body Works declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, February 27th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 6.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign 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.