Rhumbline Advisers Boosts Stock Position in Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI)

Rhumbline Advisers raised its position in shares of Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI - Free Report) by 12.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 577,153 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 63,607 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers owned 0.27% of Bath & Body Works worth $17,499,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Bath & Body Works by 99.7% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 659 shares of the company's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 329 shares during the last quarter. Northwest Bank & Trust Co boosted its stake in shares of Bath & Body Works by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Northwest Bank & Trust Co now owns 14,700 shares of the company's stock worth $533,000 after buying an additional 419 shares during the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bath & Body Works by 81.9% in the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 957 shares of the company's stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 431 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bath & Body Works by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC now owns 12,248 shares of the company's stock worth $475,000 after buying an additional 452 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nicolet Bankshares Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Bath & Body Works by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Nicolet Bankshares Inc. now owns 17,232 shares of the company's stock worth $668,000 after buying an additional 463 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.14% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BBWI. Raymond James lowered their target price on Bath & Body Works from $46.00 to $37.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on 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. 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. UBS Group upped their target price on Bath & Body Works from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $42.00.

Bath & Body Works Price Performance

Shares of Bath & Body Works stock opened at $26.64 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $29.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $33.81. Bath & Body Works, Inc. has a 12 month low of $24.96 and a 12 month high of $46.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.50, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.72.

Bath & Body Works (NYSE:BBWI - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.02. Bath & Body Works had a negative return on equity of 44.03% and a net margin of 12.43%. The business had revenue of $1.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior 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 anticipate that Bath & Body Works, Inc. will post 3.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Bath & Body Works Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.00%. Bath & Body Works's payout ratio is currently 21.33%.

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.

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