Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI) Shares Acquired by Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI - Free Report) by 5.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,494,089 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 445,887 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned 3.92% of Bath & Body Works worth $329,317,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Bath & Body Works by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,199,787 shares of the company's stock worth $1,093,306,000 after buying an additional 208,036 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Bath & Body Works by 35.6% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,178,447 shares of the company's stock worth $200,768,000 after purchasing an additional 1,360,264 shares during the period. Anomaly Capital Management LP raised its holdings in Bath & Body Works by 38.3% in the fourth quarter. Anomaly Capital Management LP now owns 4,860,876 shares of the company's stock valued at $188,456,000 after buying an additional 1,346,752 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in Bath & Body Works by 79.1% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,882,047 shares of the company's stock valued at $150,507,000 after buying an additional 1,715,096 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its stake in Bath & Body Works by 21.2% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,050,189 shares of the company's stock worth $118,256,000 after buying an additional 534,062 shares during the period. 95.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on BBWI shares. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Bath & Body Works from $48.00 to $36.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an "outperform" rating and set a $43.00 price objective on shares of Bath & Body Works in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Bath & Body Works from $47.00 to $41.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Argus restated a "hold" rating on shares of Bath & Body Works in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Bath & Body Works from $49.00 to $42.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bath & Body Works presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $42.19.

Bath & Body Works Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BBWI traded down $0.49 on Thursday, hitting $30.02. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,286,937 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,786,996. The company has a market capitalization of $6.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.69. Bath & Body Works, Inc. has a 12 month low of $24.96 and a 12 month high of $52.99. The stock's 50-day moving average is $30.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $33.81.

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

Bath & Body Works Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders 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 2.66%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. Bath & Body Works's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.98%.

Bath & Body Works declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, February 27th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 6.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.