Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI) Short Interest Update

Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,410,000 shares, a growth of 23.5% from the February 28th total of 6,000,000 shares. Approximately 3.5% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 4,690,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.6 days.

Institutional Trading of Bath & Body Works

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BBWI. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Bath & Body Works by 4.9% during 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 period. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings 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 worth $26,000 after buying an additional 329 shares in the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Bath & Body Works by 24.2% during the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,697 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,000 after buying an additional 331 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in 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 buying an additional 335 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northwest Bank & Trust Co grew its position in Bath & Body Works by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Northwest Bank & Trust Co now owns 14,700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $533,000 after acquiring an additional 419 shares during the period. 95.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on BBWI. TD Cowen raised their target price on Bath & Body Works from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays reduced their target price on Bath & Body Works from $43.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Bath & Body Works from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Bath & Body Works from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $40.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Bath & Body Works from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Bath & Body Works has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.06.

Bath & Body Works Trading Up 0.9 %

BBWI stock traded up $0.28 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $30.60. 4,712,047 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,513,364. Bath & Body Works has a twelve month low of $26.21 and a twelve month high of $52.99. The company has a market capitalization of $6.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.89. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $34.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $34.17.

Bath & Body Works (NYSE:BBWI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.05. The company 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%. Equities analysts predict that Bath & Body Works will post 3.3 EPS for the current year.

Bath & Body Works declared that its board has approved 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 repurchase up to 6.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Bath & Body Works Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.61%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. Bath & Body Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.