Short Interest in Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI) Decreases By 22.8%

Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI) saw a significant decline in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,720,000 shares, a decline of 22.8% from the March 15th total of 7,410,000 shares. Currently, 2.9% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 5,240,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.1 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Bath & Body Works from $47.00 to $41.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Bath & Body Works from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $42.00 to $48.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Bath & Body Works from $43.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Bath & Body Works from $48.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Bath & Body Works in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.13.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BBWI. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Bath & Body Works by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,982 shares of the company’s stock worth $271,000 after purchasing an additional 324 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Bath & Body Works by 99.7% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 659 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 329 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in shares of Bath & Body Works by 58.8% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 905 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 335 shares during the last quarter. Northwest Bank & Trust Co increased its position in Bath & Body Works by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Northwest Bank & Trust Co now owns 14,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $533,000 after purchasing an additional 419 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its stake in Bath & Body Works by 81.9% during the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 957 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 431 shares during the period. 95.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bath & Body Works Stock Performance

Bath & Body Works stock traded down $0.64 during trading on Monday, reaching $27.78. The company had a trading volume of 3,277,563 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,238,248. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $32.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $33.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.95 billion, a PE ratio of 6.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.69. Bath & Body Works has a 1-year low of $24.96 and a 1-year high of $52.99.

Bath & Body Works (NYSE:BBWI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $2.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.78 billion. Bath & Body Works had a net margin of 12.43% and a negative return on equity of 44.03%. Analysts anticipate that Bath & Body Works will post 3.3 EPS for the current year.

Bath & Body Works Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.88%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. Bath & Body Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.98%.

Bath & Body Works announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, February 27th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 6.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.