Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI) Shares Bought by Earnest Partners LLC

Earnest Partners LLC lifted its stake in Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI - Free Report) by 5.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,280,601 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 61,332 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC owned about 0.59% of Bath & Body Works worth $49,649,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Bath & Body Works in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Bath & Body Works by 99.7% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 659 shares of the company's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 329 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in Bath & Body Works by 58.8% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 905 shares of the company's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 335 shares during the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bath & Body Works by 81.9% during the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 957 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 431 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in shares of Bath & Body Works in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.14% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BBWI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Telsey Advisory Group restated an "outperform" rating and set a $43.00 price target on shares of Bath & Body Works in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Bath & Body Works from $48.00 to $40.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays lowered their price target on Bath & Body Works from $43.00 to $38.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Bath & Body Works from $47.00 to $41.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Raymond James decreased their target price on Bath & Body Works from $46.00 to $37.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $42.19.

Bath & Body Works Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BBWI traded up $1.13 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $31.18. 2,876,748 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,790,460. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $30.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $33.81. Bath & Body Works, Inc. has a 1 year low of $24.96 and a 1 year high of $52.99. The company has a market cap of $6.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.60, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.69.

Bath & Body Works (NYSE:BBWI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $2.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.78 billion. Bath & Body Works had a net margin of 12.43% and a negative return on equity of 44.03%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Bath & Body Works, Inc. will post 3.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bath & Body Works declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, February 27th that allows the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 6.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Bath & Body Works Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.57%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. Bath & Body Works's payout ratio is 21.98%.

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.