Bath & Body Works Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:BBWI)

Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI) was the target of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders purchased 37,402 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 504% compared to the average volume of 6,193 put options.

Institutional Trading of Bath & Body Works

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Bath & Body Works by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,982 shares of the company’s stock worth $271,000 after purchasing an additional 324 shares during the period. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in Bath & Body Works by 99.7% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 659 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 329 shares during the period. TD Private Client Wealth LLC increased its stake in Bath & Body Works by 24.2% during the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,697 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 331 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in Bath & Body Works by 58.8% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 905 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 335 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northwest Bank & Trust Co raised its holdings in Bath & Body Works by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Northwest Bank & Trust Co now owns 14,700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $533,000 after buying an additional 419 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.14% of the company’s stock.

Bath & Body Works Price Performance

BBWI stock opened at $27.66 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $32.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.92 billion, a PE ratio of 6.75, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.69. Bath & Body Works has a 12 month low of $24.96 and a 12 month high of $52.99.

Bath & Body Works (NYSE:BBWI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $2.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.78 billion. Bath & Body Works had a negative return on equity of 44.03% and a net margin of 12.43%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Bath & Body Works will post 3.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Bath & Body Works Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.89%. Bath & Body Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.98%.

Bath & Body Works announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, February 27th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase up to 6.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Bath & Body Works from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $42.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $43.00 price objective on shares of Bath & Body Works in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Bath & Body Works in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 price target (up from $42.00) on shares of Bath & Body Works in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised Bath & Body Works from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $38.00 to $35.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Bath & Body Works has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.69.

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.