Bath & Body Works (NYSE:BBWI) Hits New 12-Month Low - Here's What Happened

Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI - Get Free Report)'s stock price hit a new 52-week low on Friday . The stock traded as low as $24.94 and last traded at $25.13, with a volume of 5881584 shares. The stock had previously closed at $26.11.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on BBWI. Piper Sandler set a $39.00 price objective on shares of Bath & Body Works and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Bath & Body Works from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an "outperform" rating and set a $38.00 target price (down previously from $43.00) on shares of Bath & Body Works in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Bath & Body Works from $44.00 to $43.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Bath & Body Works from $35.00 to $30.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Bath & Body Works currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $42.00.

Bath & Body Works Stock Performance

The business's fifty day simple moving average is $29.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.46 billion, a PE ratio of 6.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.72.

Bath & Body Works (NYSE:BBWI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 29th. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.02. Bath & Body Works had a net margin of 12.43% and a negative return on equity of 44.03%. The business had revenue of $1.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.42 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.38 EPS. The company's revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Bath & Body Works, Inc. will post 3.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bath & Body Works Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. Bath & Body Works's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.33%.

Bath & Body Works declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, February 27th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase up to 6.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BBWI. Choreo LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bath & Body Works in the fourth quarter valued at $206,000. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in Bath & Body Works by 23.8% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 32,753 shares of the company's stock worth $1,270,000 after buying an additional 6,291 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in Bath & Body Works by 72.7% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 150,285 shares of the company's stock worth $5,827,000 after buying an additional 63,253 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its stake in Bath & Body Works by 38.5% during the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 513,546 shares of the company's stock worth $19,910,000 after buying an additional 142,753 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Bath & Body Works by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,081,977 shares of the company's stock worth $41,948,000 after buying an additional 12,036 shares during the period. 95.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.