Vinva Investment Management Ltd Makes New Investment in Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI)

Vinva Investment Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 3,368 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $131,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of BBWI. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 2,501,828 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Bath & Body Works by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,704,625 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,088,000 after buying an additional 195,813 shares during the period. Erste Asset Management GmbH increased its position in shares of Bath & Body Works by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,585,460 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,546,000 after purchasing an additional 5,035 shares during the last quarter. Forest Avenue Capital Management LP increased its position in shares of Bath & Body Works by 19.1% in the third 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 increased its position in shares of Bath & Body Works by 111.8% in the third 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 owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BBWI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Bath & Body Works from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Bath & Body Works in a report on Thursday, February 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. set a $47.00 price target on shares of Bath & Body Works in a report on Thursday, February 27th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Bath & Body Works from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Argus reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Bath & Body Works in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.06.

Bath & Body Works Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BBWI opened at $30.24 on Friday. Bath & Body Works, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $26.21 and a fifty-two week high of $52.99. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $33.93. The firm has a market cap of $6.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.89.

Bath & Body Works (NYSE:BBWI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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, research analysts predict that Bath & Body Works, Inc. will post 3.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Bath & Body Works Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.65%. Bath & Body Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.98%.

Bath & Body Works declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, February 27th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 6.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Bath & Body Works Profile

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.