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

Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading on Monday. Stock investors bought 11,795 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 54% compared to the average daily volume of 7,660 put options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BBWI. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Bath & Body Works from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Bath & Body Works from $35.00 to $30.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Piper Sandler set a $39.00 target price on shares of Bath & Body Works and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Bath & Body Works from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group restated an "outperform" rating and set a $38.00 price objective (down previously from $43.00) on shares of Bath & Body Works in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $42.00.

Bath & Body Works Price Performance

BBWI traded up $0.39 during trading on Thursday, hitting $29.20. 3,880,445 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,137,733. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $29.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.08. Bath & Body Works has a twelve month low of $24.94 and a twelve month high of $41.87. The company has a market cap of $6.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.79, a PEG ratio of 1.03 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 for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.02. Bath & Body Works had a negative return on equity of 47.44% and a net margin of 11.10%. The business had revenue of $1.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.38 EPS. Bath & Body Works's revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Bath & Body Works will post 3.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Bath & Body Works Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 20th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 6th. Bath & Body Works's dividend payout ratio is 21.33%.

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 buy up to 6.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in Bath & Body Works by 99.7% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 659 shares of the company's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 329 shares during the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bath & Body Works during the first quarter worth about $35,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Bath & Body Works by 217.7% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,169 shares of the company's stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 801 shares during the period. Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its holdings in Bath & Body Works by 81.9% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 957 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 431 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Bath & Body Works by 135.0% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,013 shares of the company's stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 582 shares during the period. 95.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bath & Body Works Company 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.