Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Trims Stock Position in Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lowered its position in shares of Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI) by 2.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 85,491 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,545 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Bath & Body Works were worth $3,314,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC grew its stake in Bath & Body Works by 17,496.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,516,127 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,315,000 after acquiring an additional 2,501,828 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Bath & Body Works by 13.0% during the fourth 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. Erste Asset Management GmbH grew its stake in Bath & Body Works by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,585,460 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,546,000 after acquiring an additional 5,035 shares in the last quarter. Forest Avenue Capital Management LP grew its stake 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 worth $46,851,000 after buying an additional 235,173 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC grew its stake in Bath & Body Works by 111.8% in the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 1,345,777 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,957,000 after buying an additional 710,333 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.14% of the company’s stock.

Bath & Body Works Stock Down 0.5 %

NYSE:BBWI opened at $30.09 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $35.83 and a 200 day moving average of $33.93. Bath & Body Works, Inc. has a 52 week low of $26.21 and a 52 week high of $52.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.34, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.89.

Bath & Body Works (NYSE:BBWI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.78 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that Bath & Body Works, Inc. will post 3.3 EPS for the current year.

Bath & Body Works declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, February 27th that authorizes the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 6.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Bath & Body Works Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were issued 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 yield of 2.66%. Bath & Body Works’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.98%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BBWI has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Bath & Body Works from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $42.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $43.00 price target on shares of Bath & Body Works in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Bath & Body Works in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. set a $47.00 price target on shares of Bath & Body Works in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Bath & Body Works from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. 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, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.06.

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.