South Dakota Investment Council Acquires 9,063 Shares of Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI)

South Dakota Investment Council increased its position in shares of Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 429,504 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 9,063 shares during the period. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in Bath & Body Works were worth $16,652,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BBWI. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bath & Body Works in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. True Wealth Design LLC increased its stake in shares of Bath & Body Works by 5,270.0% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 1,074 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 1,054 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in shares of Bath & Body Works by 58.8% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 905 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 335 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of Bath & Body Works during the third quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Bath & Body Works by 24.2% during the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,697 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 331 shares during the period. 95.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BBWI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen increased their target price on Bath & Body Works from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Bath & Body Works from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $42.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Bath & Body Works from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 price objective on shares of Bath & Body Works in a research note on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Bath & Body Works from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $41.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bath & Body Works has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.63.

Bath & Body Works Stock Down 4.5 %

NYSE BBWI opened at $38.51 on Friday. Bath & Body Works, Inc. has a twelve month low of $26.20 and a twelve month high of $52.99. The company has a market cap of $8.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.83. The business’s fifty day moving average is $37.70 and its 200 day moving average is $33.87.

Bath & Body Works (NYSE:BBWI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 25th. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.03. Bath & Body Works had a negative return on equity of 44.03% and a net margin of 12.43%. The company had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.48 EPS. Bath & Body Works’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Bath & Body Works, Inc. will post 3.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bath & Body Works Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. Bath & Body Works’s payout ratio is presently 19.51%.

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.