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

Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI) was the target of unusually large options trading on Monday. Traders bought 16,219 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 157% compared to the average daily volume of 6,317 put options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Bath & Body Works in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Bath & Body Works by 99.7% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 659 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 329 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC raised its position in shares of Bath & Body Works by 5,270.0% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 1,074 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 1,054 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in shares of Bath & Body Works by 58.8% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 905 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 335 shares during the period. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its stake in Bath & Body Works by 81.9% during the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 957 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 431 shares during the last quarter. 95.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Bath & Body Works Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of BBWI opened at $30.19 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $36.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.54 billion, a PE ratio of 7.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.89. Bath & Body Works has a 12-month low of $26.21 and a 12-month high of $52.99.

Bath & Body Works (NYSE:BBWI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.05. Bath & Body Works had a net margin of 12.43% and a negative return on equity of 44.03%. The company had revenue of $2.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.78 billion. Analysts anticipate that Bath & Body Works will post 3.3 EPS for the current year.

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

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on BBWI shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. set a $47.00 target price on shares of Bath & Body Works in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Citigroup raised shares of Bath & Body Works from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $40.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Bath & Body Works from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Bath & Body Works from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded 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 research report on Friday, January 10th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Bath & Body Works currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.06.

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.