South Dakota Investment Council Has $16.65 Million Holdings in Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI)

South Dakota Investment Council boosted its holdings in shares of Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 429,504 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,063 shares during the quarter. South Dakota Investment Council owned 0.20% of Bath & Body Works worth $16,652,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BBWI. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Bath & Body Works by 17,496.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,516,127 shares of the company’s stock worth $80,315,000 after purchasing an additional 2,501,828 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in Bath & Body Works by 9,023.5% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,701,813 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,322,000 after purchasing an additional 1,683,160 shares during the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH acquired a new stake in Bath & Body Works in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $50,483,000. Forest Avenue Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in Bath & Body Works by 19.1% in the 3rd quarter. Forest Avenue Capital Management LP now owns 1,467,763 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,851,000 after purchasing an additional 235,173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its holdings in Bath & Body Works by 111.8% in the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 1,345,777 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,957,000 after purchasing an additional 710,333 shares during the last quarter. 95.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on BBWI. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Bath & Body Works from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Argus reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Bath & Body Works in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Bath & Body Works from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $42.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Bath & Body Works from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Bath & Body Works from $51.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bath & Body Works currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.63.

Bath & Body Works Stock Performance

Bath & Body Works stock opened at $38.51 on Friday. Bath & Body Works, Inc. has a 52 week low of $26.20 and a 52 week high of $52.99. The firm has a market cap of $8.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.39, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.83. The business’s fifty day moving average is $37.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $33.87.

Bath & Body Works (NYSE:BBWI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 25th. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.03. Bath & Body Works had a negative return on equity of 44.03% and a net margin of 12.43%. The business had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.58 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.48 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Bath & Body Works, Inc. will post 3.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Bath & Body Works Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. Bath & Body Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.51%.

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.