CCM Investment Group LLC Purchases New Shares in Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI)

Key Points

• CCM Investment Group LLC acquired 24,695 shares of Bath & Body Works, Inc. during the first quarter, valuing the stake at approximately $764,000.
• Bath & Body Works reported earnings of $0.49 per share for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' estimates of $0.47, while its revenue increased by 2.9% year-over-year.
• The company has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.20, translating to an annualized dividend of $0.80 and a yield of 2.8%.

CCM Investment Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 24,695 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $764,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. LPL Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Bath & Body Works by 48.3% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 26,117 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,013,000 after purchasing an additional 8,511 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Bath & Body Works by 21.7% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 168,736 shares of the company's stock worth $6,542,000 after acquiring an additional 30,042 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in Bath & Body Works by 21.2% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,050,189 shares of the company's stock worth $118,256,000 after acquiring an additional 534,062 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in Bath & Body Works by 40.1% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 35,145 shares of the company's stock worth $1,288,000 after acquiring an additional 10,052 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Bath & Body Works by 22.6% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 711,664 shares of the company's stock worth $27,591,000 after acquiring an additional 130,972 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.14% of the company's stock.

Bath & Body Works Price Performance

Bath & Body Works stock traded down $0.19 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $28.53. The company had a trading volume of 1,057,782 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,077,557. Bath & Body Works, Inc. has a 12-month low of $24.94 and a 12-month high of $41.87. The firm has a market cap of $6.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.61, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $29.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $31.37.

Bath & Body Works (NYSE:BBWI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $1.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.38 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Bath & Body Works, Inc. will post 3.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Bath & Body Works Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Investors of record on Friday, August 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 22nd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Bath & Body Works's payout ratio is currently 21.33%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BBWI has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Bath & Body Works from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Bath & Body Works from $44.00 to $43.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Bath & Body Works from $36.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Raymond James Financial reduced their price objective on Bath & Body Works from $46.00 to $37.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on 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. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $42.19.

About Bath & Body Works

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.