Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Purchases Shares of 13,700 Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in shares of Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 13,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $591,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its stake in Bath & Body Works by 3.3% in the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 11,044 shares of the company’s stock worth $373,000 after acquiring an additional 348 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its holdings in Bath & Body Works by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 31,475 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,349,000 after buying an additional 414 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co increased its holdings in Bath & Body Works by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 23,663 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,021,000 after buying an additional 435 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp boosted its position in Bath & Body Works by 4.0% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 15,638 shares of the company’s stock worth $529,000 after purchasing an additional 599 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Denali Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Bath & Body Works in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Bath & Body Works

In other news, insider Thomas E. Mazurek sold 4,285 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.89, for a total transaction of $209,493.65. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 45,992 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,248,548.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BBWI has been the topic of several research reports. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Bath & Body Works from $30.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Bath & Body Works from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $53.00 price objective on shares of Bath & Body Works in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Bath & Body Works from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Bath & Body Works from $46.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bath & Body Works has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.73.

Bath & Body Works Price Performance

BBWI stock opened at $46.04 on Monday. Bath & Body Works, Inc. has a 1-year low of $27.30 and a 1-year high of $50.34. The company has a market capitalization of $10.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.96, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.86. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $46.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.67.

Bath & Body Works (NYSE:BBWI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 29th. The company reported $2.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $2.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.84 billion. Bath & Body Works had a negative return on equity of 37.01% and a net margin of 11.82%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.86 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Bath & Body Works, Inc. will post 3.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bath & Body Works Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.74%. Bath & Body Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.78%.

Bath & Body Works 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.