Bath & Body Works Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:BBWI)

Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock traders acquired 32,335 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 108% compared to the average volume of 15,509 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen cut Bath & Body Works from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Bath & Body Works from $32.00 to $28.50 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 13th. New Street Research set a $26.00 price target on Bath & Body Works in a report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Bath & Body Works from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $39.00 to $17.00 in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Bath & Body Works from $26.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $25.17.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Lucy Brady acquired 3,470 shares of Bath & Body Works stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The stock was purchased at an average price of $14.40 per share, for a total transaction of $49,968.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 17,482 shares in the company, valued at $251,740.80. The trade was a 24.76% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Stephen D. Steinour bought 6,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $14.86 per share, with a total value of $99,562.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 48,175 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $715,880.50. The trade was a 16.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders bought 33,513 shares of company stock worth $500,442 in the last quarter. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bath & Body Works

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Bath & Body Works by 7.6% during the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,016,767 shares of the company’s stock valued at $334,029,000 after buying an additional 781,681 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Bath & Body Works by 11.5% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,080,106 shares of the company’s stock worth $212,120,000 after buying an additional 733,000 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in Bath & Body Works by 2.2% during the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,861,444 shares of the company’s stock worth $150,991,000 after acquiring an additional 123,648 shares during the period. Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC raised its position in Bath & Body Works by 42.7% during the second quarter. Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC now owns 5,409,919 shares of the company’s stock valued at $162,081,000 after acquiring an additional 1,619,276 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Bath & Body Works by 2,204.1% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,174,370 shares of the company’s stock valued at $133,292,000 after acquiring an additional 4,949,796 shares in the last quarter. 95.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bath & Body Works Stock Up 8.7%

Bath & Body Works stock opened at $16.92 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $24.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.90. The company has a market capitalization of $3.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.53. Bath & Body Works has a 52 week low of $14.27 and a 52 week high of $41.87.

Bath & Body Works (NYSE:BBWI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.05). Bath & Body Works had a negative return on equity of 48.43% and a net margin of 9.88%.The business had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.49 EPS. Bath & Body Works’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Bath & Body Works has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.870- EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at 1.700- EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Bath & Body Works will post 3.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bath & Body Works Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 5th. Investors of record on Friday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 21st. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.7%. Bath & Body Works’s payout ratio is currently 24.62%.

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.