Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) Receives $176.75 Average PT from Analysts

Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) has received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the nineteen analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eleven have issued a hold recommendation, six have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $176.75.

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on WSM. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $195.00 to $170.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $195.00 to $185.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $165.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised Williams-Sonoma from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $170.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th.

Williams-Sonoma Trading Down 0.0%

NYSE:WSM opened at $157.86 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $19.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.88, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.47. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $158.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $176.63. Williams-Sonoma has a 12-month low of $125.33 and a 12-month high of $219.98.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 22nd. The specialty retailer reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 52.79% and a net margin of 14.35%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.48 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Williams-Sonoma will post 8.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 18th will be issued a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.67%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 18th. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.90%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams-Sonoma

In other Williams-Sonoma news, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $157.11, for a total value of $628,440.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 38,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,031,138.68. This represents a 9.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Laura Alber sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.78, for a total value of $4,973,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,018,374 shares in the company, valued at $168,826,041.72. This trade represents a 2.86% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 113,227 shares of company stock valued at $18,520,913. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Williams-Sonoma

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in WSM. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 21.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,630,310 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $2,471,152,000 after acquiring an additional 2,797,562 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the fourth quarter valued at $290,121,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the first quarter valued at $85,075,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 19,941.2% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 495,619 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $91,779,000 after acquiring an additional 493,146 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 1,272.6% during the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 512,846 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $81,081,000 after acquiring an additional 475,484 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.29% of the company’s stock.

Williams-Sonoma Company Profile

Williams-Sonoma, Inc operates as an omni-channel specialty retailer of various products for home. It offers cooking, dining, and entertaining products, such as cookware, tools, electrics, cutlery, tabletop and bar, outdoor, furniture, and a library of cookbooks under the Williams Sonoma Home brand, as well as home furnishings and decorative accessories under the Williams Sonoma lifestyle brand; and furniture, bedding, lighting, rugs, table essentials, and decorative accessories under the Pottery Barn brand.