Bath & Body Works (NYSE:BBWI) Shares Gap Down – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI) gapped down before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $41.08, but opened at $36.65. Bath & Body Works shares last traded at $36.60, with a volume of 1,617,941 shares traded.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BBWI. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Bath & Body Works in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Bath & Body Works from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $42.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Bath & Body Works from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Barclays raised Bath & Body Works from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $34.00 to $43.00 in a report on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Bath & Body Works from $51.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Bath & Body Works presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.44.

Bath & Body Works Trading Down 11.3 %

The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $37.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $34.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.89 billion, a PE ratio of 8.88, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.83.

Bath & Body Works (NYSE:BBWI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.05. Bath & Body Works had a net margin of 12.43% and a negative return on equity of 44.03%. As a group, research analysts expect that Bath & Body Works, Inc. will post 3.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Bath & Body Works Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. Bath & Body Works’s payout ratio is currently 19.51%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bath & Body Works

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. D1 Capital Partners L.P. bought a new stake in Bath & Body Works in the fourth quarter worth approximately $109,797,000. FMR LLC increased its position in Bath & Body Works by 17,496.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,516,127 shares of the company’s stock worth $80,315,000 after buying an additional 2,501,828 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Bath & Body Works during the fourth quarter valued at about $73,572,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in shares of Bath & Body Works by 79.1% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,882,047 shares of the company’s stock worth $150,507,000 after buying an additional 1,715,096 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its stake in shares of Bath & Body Works by 9,023.5% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,701,813 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,322,000 after acquiring an additional 1,683,160 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.14% of the company’s stock.

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.