Bayforest Capital Ltd Invests $429,000 in Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI)

Key Points

• Bayforest Capital Ltd has acquired 14,140 shares of Bath & Body Works, Inc. valued at approximately $429,000, as reported in its recent SEC filing.
• Institutional investors now own 95.14% of Bath & Body Works shares, with several firms increasing their stakes significantly in the last quarter.
• Analysts have set a consensus target price of $42.19 for Bath & Body Works, with fifteen buy ratings and a "Moderate Buy" rating from the investment community.

Bayforest Capital Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 14,140 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $429,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Northwest Bank & Trust Co boosted its holdings in Bath & Body Works by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Northwest Bank & Trust Co now owns 14,700 shares of the company's stock valued at $533,000 after purchasing an additional 419 shares during the last quarter. Nicolet Bankshares Inc. boosted its holdings in Bath & Body Works by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Nicolet Bankshares Inc. now owns 17,232 shares of the company's stock valued at $668,000 after purchasing an additional 463 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Bath & Body Works by 15.5% in the first quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,184 shares of the company's stock valued at $127,000 after purchasing an additional 560 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in Bath & Body Works by 65.9% in the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,501 shares of the company's stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 596 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Bath & Body Works by 94.7% in the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,320 shares of the company's stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 642 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.14% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $38.00 target price (down previously from $43.00) on shares of Bath & Body Works in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Wall Street Zen raised Bath & Body Works from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, July 26th. UBS Group raised their price target on Bath & Body Works from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Bath & Body Works from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $42.19.

Bath & Body Works Stock Performance

Shares of BBWI stock traded up $0.93 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $29.10. 1,999,873 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,138,905. Bath & Body Works, Inc. has a twelve month low of $24.94 and a twelve month high of $41.87. The firm has a market cap of $6.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.54. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $29.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.81.

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

Bath & Body Works Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 20th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 6th. Bath & Body Works's payout ratio is presently 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.