Bath & Body Works’ (BBWI) Outperform Rating Reiterated at Raymond James

Raymond James reiterated their outperform rating on shares of Bath & Body Works (NYSE:BBWI) in a report issued on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has a $46.00 target price on the stock, up from their prior target price of $42.00.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Piper Sandler raised their price objective 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Bath & Body Works from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $41.00 to $47.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Bath & Body Works from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Bath & Body Works from $51.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised Bath & Body Works from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $42.00 to $48.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.44.

Bath & Body Works Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BBWI opened at $35.95 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $37.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $34.08. Bath & Body Works has a 52 week low of $26.20 and a 52 week high of $52.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.79 billion, a PE ratio of 8.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.83.

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

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

Bath & Body Works Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bath & Body Works

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BBWI. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Bath & Body Works by 99.7% during 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 during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Bath & Body Works during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in Bath & Body Works by 58.8% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 905 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 335 shares during the period. Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 431 shares during the period. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Bath & Body Works by 135.0% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,013 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 582 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.