Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Bath & Body Works Put Options (NYSE:BBWI)

Key Points

• Bath & Body Works experienced a significant increase in options trading, with 16,828 put options acquired, marking a 62% rise compared to the average daily volume.
• Numerous hedge funds have adjusted their positions in the company, with institutional investors now owning 95.14% of Bath & Body Works stock.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.20, representing a 3.1% annual yield, while Q2 earnings matched analysts' consensus expectations, reporting $0.37 EPS.

Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading on Monday. Stock investors purchased 16,828 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 62% compared to the average volume of 10,376 put options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bath & Body Works

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Bath & Body Works by 38.9% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 41,711 shares of the company's stock worth $1,265,000 after purchasing an additional 11,681 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bath & Body Works during the 1st quarter worth $714,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of Bath & Body Works by 3,642.2% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,651,109 shares of the company's stock worth $50,062,000 after purchasing an additional 1,606,988 shares during the period. IFM Investors Pty Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Bath & Body Works during the 1st quarter worth $1,314,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Bath & Body Works by 94.7% during the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,320 shares of the company's stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 642 shares during the period. 95.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group cut their target price on Bath & Body Works from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 29th. Citigroup cut their target price on Bath & Body Works from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $38.00 target price on shares of Bath & Body Works in a report on Thursday, August 28th. Wall Street Zen cut Bath & Body Works from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Bath & Body Works from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $39.69.

Bath & Body Works Stock Up 3.2%

NYSE:BBWI traded up $0.79 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $25.88. 12,573,334 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,570,239. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $29.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $29.69. Bath & Body Works has a one year low of $24.93 and a one year high of $41.87. The company has a market cap of $5.34 billion, a PE ratio of 7.68, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.49.

Bath & Body Works (NYSE:BBWI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 28th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.37. Bath & Body Works had a negative return on equity of 48.43% and a net margin of 9.88%.The business had revenue of $1.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.55 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.37 EPS. The business's revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. Bath & Body Works has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 0.370-0.45 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 3.350-3.600 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Bath & Body Works will post 3.3 EPS for the current year.

Bath & Body Works Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 22nd. Bath & Body Works's payout ratio is presently 23.74%.

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.