Brokerages Set Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI) Target Price at $45.06

Shares of Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and thirteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $45.06.

BBWI has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. set a $47.00 target price on Bath & Body Works in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Bath & Body Works from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $42.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Bath & Body Works from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Citigroup raised shares of Bath & Body Works from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $40.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of Bath & Body Works in a research note on Friday, January 10th.

Institutional Trading of Bath & Body Works

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Bath & Body Works by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,199,787 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,093,306,000 after buying an additional 208,036 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Bath & Body Works by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,235,086 shares of the company’s stock worth $396,815,000 after purchasing an additional 422,973 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Bath & Body Works by 5.5% during 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. increased its holdings in shares of Bath & Body Works by 35.6% during 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 lifted its stake in shares of Bath & Body Works by 38.3% in the 4th quarter. Anomaly Capital Management LP now owns 4,860,876 shares of the company’s stock valued at $188,456,000 after purchasing an additional 1,346,752 shares during the period. 95.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bath & Body Works Trading Up 4.0 %

NYSE:BBWI opened at $31.85 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $34.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $34.16. The company has a market cap of $6.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.89. Bath & Body Works has a twelve month low of $26.21 and a twelve month high of $52.99.

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

Bath & Body Works declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase 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 a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Bath & Body Works Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.51%. Bath & Body Works’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.98%.

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.