Sciencast Management LP Buys New Stake in Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI)

Sciencast Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 78,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,025,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Bath & Body Works by 17,496.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,516,127 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,315,000 after buying an additional 2,501,828 shares in the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new stake in Bath & Body Works in the third quarter valued at about $50,483,000. Senvest Management LLC acquired a new position in Bath & Body Works in the third quarter worth about $30,537,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Bath & Body Works by 328.7% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,069,941 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,153,000 after purchasing an additional 820,379 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its stake in Bath & Body Works by 111.8% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 1,345,777 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,957,000 after purchasing an additional 710,333 shares during the period. 95.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on BBWI. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Bath & Body Works from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Bath & Body Works in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. 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 research note on Thursday, December 12th. Piper Sandler upped 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 report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Bath & Body Works from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $40.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bath & Body Works presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.06.

Bath & Body Works Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BBWI opened at $30.24 on Friday. Bath & Body Works, Inc. has a 52-week low of $26.21 and a 52-week high of $52.99. The company has a market capitalization of $6.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.89. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $33.93.

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

Bath & Body Works Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.65%. Bath & Body Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.98%.

Bath & Body Works announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, February 27th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 6.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board 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.