Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI) Short Interest Up 11.9% in September

Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 9,990,000 shares, a growth of 11.9% from the September 15th total of 8,930,000 shares. Approximately 4.6% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 5,370,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.9 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BBWI has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Bath & Body Works from $56.00 to $51.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Bath & Body Works from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Raymond James cut their price objective on Bath & Body Works from $51.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Bath & Body Works from $60.00 to $49.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Bath & Body Works from $54.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.35.

Insider Activity at Bath & Body Works

In other news, CEO Gina Boswell bought 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 9th. The shares were bought at an average price of $29.64 per share, with a total value of $177,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 242,987 shares in the company, valued at $7,202,134.68. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bath & Body Works

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 1,102,124 shares in the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bath & Body Works by 15.8% during the second quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 11,315,515 shares of the company’s stock worth $441,871,000 after buying an additional 1,547,399 shares during the period. Anomaly Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Bath & Body Works during the second quarter worth about $113,995,000. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT boosted its stake in shares of Bath & Body Works by 10.0% during the second quarter. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT now owns 2,088,703 shares of the company’s stock worth $81,564,000 after buying an additional 189,889 shares during the period. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Bath & Body Works by 5.6% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,448,278 shares of the company’s stock worth $72,443,000 after buying an additional 76,183 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.14% of the company’s stock.

Bath & Body Works Stock Performance

NYSE BBWI traded up $0.08 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $31.11. The company had a trading volume of 3,133,145 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,696,730. Bath & Body Works has a 1-year low of $26.20 and a 1-year high of $52.99. The company has a market cap of $6.94 billion, a PE ratio of 8.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.77. The business has a 50 day moving average of $30.87 and a 200-day moving average of $38.78.

Bath & Body Works (NYSE:BBWI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.02. Bath & Body Works had a net margin of 12.69% and a negative return on equity of 41.94%. The company had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.54 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that Bath & Body Works will post 3.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bath & Body Works Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 23rd were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 23rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.57%. Bath & Body Works’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.62%.

Bath & Body Works Company Profile

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.