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

Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE:BBWI) was the target of unusually large options trading on Monday. Investors bought 16,828 put options on the company. This is an increase of 62% compared to the typical daily volume of 10,376 put options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on BBWI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Bath & Body Works from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Bath & Body Works from $19.00 to $18.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 12th. Wall Street Zen cut Bath & Body Works from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Barclays lifted their price target on Bath & Body Works from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on Bath & Body Works from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $39.69.

Bath & Body Works Trading Up 2.7%

Bath & Body Works stock opened at $26.60 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $29.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $29.67. Bath & Body Works has a 12 month low of $24.93 and a 12 month high of $41.87. The company has a market capitalization of $5.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.49.

Bath & Body Works (NYSE:BBWI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 28th. The company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.37. Bath & Body Works had a negative return on equity of 48.43% and a net margin of 9.88%.The business had revenue of $1.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.55 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.37 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. Bath & Body Works has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 0.370-0.45 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 3.350-3.600 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Bath & Body Works will post 3.3 EPS for the current year.

Bath & Body Works Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 22nd were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 22nd. Bath & Body Works’s payout ratio is 23.74%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bath & Body Works

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd bought a new stake in Bath & Body Works in the second quarter worth $33,000. SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bath & Body Works in the first quarter worth $35,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Bath & Body Works by 217.7% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,169 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 801 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Bath & Body Works by 63.3% in the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,241 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 481 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Bath & Body Works by 94.7% in the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,320 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 642 shares during the last quarter. 95.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Bath & Body Works Company 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.