Bath & Body Works (NYSE:BBWI) Upgraded at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Bath & Body Works (NYSE:BBWI) from a neutral rating to an overweight rating in a report published on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. The firm currently has $35.00 price target on the stock, down from their previous price target of $38.00.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on BBWI. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 price target on shares of Bath & Body Works in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Bath & Body Works from $48.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Bath & Body Works in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Bath & Body Works from $43.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 target price (up from $42.00) on shares of Bath & Body Works in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.06.

Bath & Body Works Stock Down 3.9 %

Shares of BBWI stock opened at $26.54 on Wednesday. Bath & Body Works has a 12 month low of $24.96 and a 12 month high of $52.99. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $32.99 and a 200-day moving average of $33.98. The firm has a market cap of $5.69 billion, a PE ratio of 6.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.69.

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

Bath & Body Works announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, February 27th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 6.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Bath & Body Works Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. Bath & Body Works’s dividend payout ratio is 21.98%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bath & Body Works

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position 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 valued at $1,093,306,000 after purchasing an additional 208,036 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings 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 valued at $396,815,000 after acquiring an additional 422,973 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in 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 valued at $329,317,000 after acquiring an additional 445,887 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in Bath & Body Works by 35.6% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,178,447 shares of the company’s stock worth $200,768,000 after acquiring an additional 1,360,264 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Anomaly Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Bath & Body Works by 38.3% during the fourth quarter. Anomaly Capital Management LP now owns 4,860,876 shares of the company’s stock worth $188,456,000 after acquiring an additional 1,346,752 shares during the period. 95.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Bath & Body Works Company Profile

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.