Barclays Has Lowered Expectations for Bath & Body Works (NYSE:BBWI) Stock Price

Bath & Body Works (NYSE:BBWI) had its target price cut by Barclays from $35.00 to $30.00 in a research note published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the stock.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on BBWI. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Bath & Body Works from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Piper Sandler set a $39.00 price objective on shares of Bath & Body Works and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Bath & Body Works from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Bath & Body Works from $36.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $38.00 price target (down previously from $43.00) on shares of Bath & Body Works in a report on Thursday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.00.

Bath & Body Works Stock Down 1.5%

NYSE BBWI opened at $28.16 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.87, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.87. Bath & Body Works has a 12-month low of $24.96 and a 12-month high of $52.99. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $30.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $33.97.

Bath & Body Works (NYSE:BBWI) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $1.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.42 billion. Bath & Body Works had a net margin of 12.43% and a negative return on equity of 44.03%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.38 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Bath & Body Works will post 3.3 EPS for the current year.

Bath & Body Works Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. Bath & Body Works’s dividend payout ratio is 21.33%.

Bath & Body Works declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, February 27th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 6.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bath & Body Works

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Bath & Body Works by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,199,787 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,093,306,000 after purchasing an additional 208,036 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Bath & Body Works by 7.6% during the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,016,767 shares of the company’s stock worth $334,029,000 after purchasing an additional 781,681 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Bath & Body Works by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,494,089 shares of the company’s stock worth $329,317,000 after purchasing an additional 445,887 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Bath & Body Works by 14,732.0% during the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,798,108 shares of the company’s stock worth $206,119,000 after purchasing an additional 6,752,274 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in Bath & Body Works by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,422,058 shares of the company’s stock worth $164,397,000 after purchasing an additional 243,611 shares in the last quarter. 95.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.