Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Purchases 1,606,988 Shares of Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI - Free Report) by 3,642.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,651,109 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,606,988 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned 0.77% of Bath & Body Works worth $50,062,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in shares of Bath & Body Works by 32.6% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 52,784 shares of the company's stock worth $2,046,000 after acquiring an additional 12,964 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Bath & Body Works by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 88,423 shares of the company's stock worth $3,428,000 after acquiring an additional 4,625 shares in the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bath & Body Works during the fourth quarter worth approximately $258,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Bath & Body Works by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,704,625 shares of the company's stock worth $66,088,000 after acquiring an additional 195,813 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Bath & Body Works by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 764,195 shares of the company's stock worth $29,628,000 after acquiring an additional 27,136 shares in the last quarter. 95.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BBWI has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Bath & Body Works from $49.00 to $43.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted 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. Piper Sandler set a $39.00 target price on shares of Bath & Body Works and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. 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, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Bath & Body Works from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $42.00.

Bath & Body Works Price Performance

Bath & Body Works stock traded down $0.17 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $26.09. 4,445,439 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,021,100. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $29.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $33.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.36, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.72. Bath & Body Works, Inc. has a 52-week low of $24.96 and a 52-week high of $44.23.

Bath & Body Works (NYSE:BBWI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $1.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.42 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.38 EPS. Bath & Body Works's revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Bath & Body Works, Inc. will post 3.3 EPS for the current year.

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

Bath & Body Works Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.07%. Bath & Body Works's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.33%.

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.