120,000 Shares in Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI) Acquired by ING Groep NV

ING Groep NV purchased a new position in Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 120,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,652,000. ING Groep NV owned 0.06% of Bath & Body Works at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BBWI. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Bath & Body Works by 54.0% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,262 shares of the company’s stock worth $136,000 after acquiring an additional 1,495 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates grew its holdings in shares of Bath & Body Works by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 89,680 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,863,000 after acquiring an additional 5,706 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Bath & Body Works by 14.9% in the 3rd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,514 shares of the company’s stock worth $208,000 after acquiring an additional 847 shares during the period. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bath & Body Works in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $365,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Bath & Body Works by 723.4% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,167,554 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,268,000 after acquiring an additional 1,025,757 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised Bath & Body Works from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $42.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Bath & Body Works from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $41.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Argus reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Bath & Body Works in a research note on Friday, January 10th. TD Cowen increased their price target on Bath & Body Works from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Bath & Body Works from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.63.

Bath & Body Works Trading Down 4.5 %

Shares of NYSE BBWI opened at $38.51 on Friday. Bath & Body Works, Inc. has a 12-month low of $26.20 and a 12-month high of $52.99. The company has a market cap of $8.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.39, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.83. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $37.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.86.

Bath & Body Works (NYSE:BBWI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 25th. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $1.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.48 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Bath & Body Works, Inc. will post 3.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bath & Body Works Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.08%. Bath & Body Works’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.51%.

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.