Bath & Body Works Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:BBWI)

Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI - Get Free Report) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Stock traders bought 11,795 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 54% compared to the typical volume of 7,660 put options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BBWI. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Bath & Body Works from $49.00 to $43.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $38.00 price objective (down from $43.00) on shares of Bath & Body Works in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Raymond James Financial lowered their price target on shares of Bath & Body Works from $46.00 to $37.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Piper Sandler set a $39.00 price target on Bath & Body Works and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Bath & Body Works in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Bath & Body Works has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $42.00.

Bath & Body Works Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of BBWI traded up $0.63 on Monday, reaching $28.88. 877,367 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,093,960. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $29.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $33.19. Bath & Body Works has a 52-week low of $24.94 and a 52-week high of $42.37. The stock has a market cap of $6.11 billion, a PE ratio of 7.70, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.72.

Bath & Body Works (NYSE:BBWI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.42 billion. Bath & Body Works had a net margin of 11.10% and a negative return on equity of 47.44%. The company's revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.38 EPS. Analysts forecast that Bath & Body Works will post 3.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Bath & Body Works announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, February 27th that authorizes the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 6.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Bath & Body Works Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 6th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.77%. Bath & Body Works's payout ratio is currently 21.33%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Bath & Body Works by 14,732.0% during the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,798,108 shares of the company's stock valued at $206,119,000 after buying an additional 6,752,274 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Bath & Body Works by 267.8% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,993,173 shares of the company's stock worth $121,073,000 after purchasing an additional 2,907,506 shares during the last quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. purchased a new position in Bath & Body Works during the 4th quarter valued at about $109,797,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Bath & Body Works by 115.7% during the 1st quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,680,104 shares of the company's stock valued at $111,581,000 after purchasing an additional 1,973,679 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Bath & Body Works during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $73,572,000. 95.14% of the stock is currently 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.