Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI) Short Interest Up 31.0% in February

Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 6,000,000 shares, a growth of 31.0% from the February 13th total of 4,580,000 shares. Currently, 2.8% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 4,010,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.5 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bath & Body Works

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in shares of Bath & Body Works during the third quarter worth $8,129,000. Forest Avenue Capital Management LP lifted its position in Bath & Body Works by 19.1% in the 3rd quarter. Forest Avenue Capital Management LP now owns 1,467,763 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,851,000 after acquiring an additional 235,173 shares in the last quarter. Anthracite Investment Company Inc. bought a new stake in Bath & Body Works in the 3rd quarter valued at $2,921,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Bath & Body Works by 13.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,704,625 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,088,000 after acquiring an additional 195,813 shares in the last quarter. Finally, iA Global Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Bath & Body Works by 1,078.2% in the 3rd quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 49,331 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,575,000 after acquiring an additional 45,144 shares in the last quarter. 95.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on BBWI. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $43.00 price target on shares of Bath & Body Works in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Bath & Body Works from $43.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price target (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Bath & Body Works in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. set a $47.00 price target on shares of Bath & Body Works in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Bath & Body Works from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $45.06.

Bath & Body Works Stock Performance

BBWI traded up $0.41 during trading on Monday, reaching $29.91. 1,430,828 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,068,111. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $36.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $34.00. Bath & Body Works has a fifty-two week low of $26.21 and a fifty-two week high of $52.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.48 billion, a PE ratio of 7.30, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.89.

Bath & Body Works (NYSE:BBWI) last released 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. Bath & Body Works had a net margin of 12.43% and a negative return on equity of 44.03%. The firm had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.78 billion. Research analysts forecast that Bath & Body Works will post 3.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bath & Body Works Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.67%. Bath & Body Works’s dividend payout ratio is 21.98%.

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

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.