Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI) Shares Sold by Xponance Inc.

Xponance Inc. trimmed its holdings in Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI) by 47.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,908 shares of the company’s stock after selling 8,953 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Bath & Body Works were worth $384,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Boston Partners bought a new stake in Bath & Body Works during the fourth quarter worth approximately $9,321,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in shares of Bath & Body Works by 67.4% in the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 293,466 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,377,000 after acquiring an additional 118,165 shares during the last quarter. PDS Planning Inc grew its holdings in shares of Bath & Body Works by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 15,606 shares of the company’s stock worth $605,000 after acquiring an additional 1,147 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Bath & Body Works by 25.8% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 21,378 shares of the company’s stock worth $829,000 after purchasing an additional 4,383 shares during the period. Finally, Royce & Associates LP purchased a new stake in shares of Bath & Body Works during the fourth quarter valued at $1,276,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.14% of the company’s stock.

Bath & Body Works Trading Down 1.1 %

Bath & Body Works stock opened at $31.84 on Thursday. Bath & Body Works, Inc. has a 1-year low of $26.21 and a 1-year high of $52.99. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $35.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $34.02. The company has a market capitalization of $6.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.77, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.89.

Bath & Body Works (NYSE:BBWI) last posted 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. The company had revenue of $2.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.78 billion. Bath & Body Works had a negative return on equity of 44.03% and a net margin of 12.43%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Bath & Body Works, Inc. will post 3.3 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Bath & Body Works Announces Dividend

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 $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.51%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. Bath & Body Works’s dividend payout ratio is 21.98%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on BBWI. Barclays cut their price objective on 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. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Bath & Body Works from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Citigroup raised shares of Bath & Body Works from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $40.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on 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, Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 price target on shares of Bath & Body Works in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bath & Body Works currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.06.

Bath & Body Works 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.