Earnest Partners LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI)

Earnest Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI) by 2.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,302,833 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 32,791 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC’s holdings in Bath & Body Works were worth $65,168,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Bath & Body Works by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 976,278 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,136,000 after purchasing an additional 35,261 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Bath & Body Works by 28.1% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 258,617 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,936,000 after purchasing an additional 56,764 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Bath & Body Works by 46.9% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 131,605 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,572,000 after purchasing an additional 41,995 shares in the last quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bath & Body Works in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,618,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Bath & Body Works by 4.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,398,192 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,370,458,000 after purchasing an additional 1,102,124 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.14% of the company’s stock.

Bath & Body Works Trading Up 2.8 %

BBWI traded up $0.97 during trading on Monday, hitting $35.14. 2,958,193 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,910,817. Bath & Body Works, Inc. has a 1 year low of $27.30 and a 1 year high of $52.99. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $41.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $44.24. The firm has a market cap of $7.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.85.

Bath & Body Works (NYSE:BBWI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 4th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.37 billion. Bath & Body Works had a net margin of 11.92% and a negative return on equity of 40.00%. Bath & Body Works’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.33 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Bath & Body Works, Inc. will post 3.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bath & Body Works Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.28%. Bath & Body Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.62%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Bath & Body Works from $47.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Bath & Body Works from $53.00 to $57.00 in a research report on Monday, June 3rd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Bath & Body Works from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Bath & Body Works from $48.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Bath & Body Works from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $40.00 to $53.00 in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bath & Body Works currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $47.60.

About Bath & Body Works

Bath & Body Works, Inc operates a specialty retailer of home fragrance, body care, and soaps and sanitizer products. It sells its products under the Bath & Body Works, White Barn, and other brand names through retail stores and e-commerce sites located in the United States and Canada, as well as through international stores operated by partners under franchise, license, and wholesale arrangements.