Telsey Advisory Group Reaffirms Outperform Rating for Bath & Body Works (NYSE:BBWI)

Telsey Advisory Group restated their outperform rating on shares of Bath & Body Works (NYSE:BBWI) in a research note released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $43.00 target price on the stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on BBWI. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Bath & Body Works from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $41.00 to $47.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays raised shares of Bath & Body Works from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $34.00 to $43.00 in a research report on Monday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Bath & Body Works from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on Bath & Body Works from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bath & Body Works presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.44.

Bath & Body Works Trading Down 12.5 %

BBWI stock opened at $35.95 on Thursday. Bath & Body Works has a 12-month low of $26.20 and a 12-month high of $52.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.77, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.83. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $37.76 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $34.08.

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

Bath & Body Works Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.23%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. Bath & Body Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.51%.

Bath & Body Works declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Bath & Body Works

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Bath & Body Works by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,199,787 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,093,306,000 after purchasing an additional 208,036 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Bath & Body Works by 4.3% during the fourth 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 raised its holdings in shares of Bath & Body Works by 5.5% in 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. lifted its stake in shares of Bath & Body Works by 35.6% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,178,447 shares of the company’s stock valued at $200,768,000 after purchasing an additional 1,360,264 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Anomaly Capital Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Bath & Body Works by 38.3% during the 4th quarter. Anomaly Capital Management LP now owns 4,860,876 shares of the company’s stock worth $188,456,000 after purchasing an additional 1,346,752 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.14% of the company’s stock.

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.