Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) Earns “Outperform” Rating from Telsey Advisory Group

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reissued by equities researchers at Telsey Advisory Group in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $165.00 price target on the specialty retailer’s stock. Telsey Advisory Group’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 26.29% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $232.00 to $116.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Williams-Sonoma from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $148.00 to $156.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $140.00 to $134.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $139.47.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of WSM stock opened at $130.65 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $16.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.76. Williams-Sonoma has a fifty-two week low of $80.49 and a fifty-two week high of $174.26. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $141.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $144.50.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 22nd. The specialty retailer reported $1.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.81 billion. Williams-Sonoma had a net margin of 14.29% and a return on equity of 51.57%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.56 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Williams-Sonoma will post 7.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Williams-Sonoma

In related news, EVP Karalyn Smith sold 11,100 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.66, for a total transaction of $1,494,726.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,040,099. This trade represents a 42.29 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Laura Alber sold 40,000 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.27, for a total transaction of $5,810,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,030,956 shares in the company, valued at approximately $149,766,978.12. This represents a 3.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Williams-Sonoma

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Quent Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 19.7% in the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 358 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $114,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. increased its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 28.8% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 7,281 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $2,312,000 after purchasing an additional 1,629 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 39.6% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 13,383 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $4,250,000 after purchasing an additional 3,798 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 6.3% during the first quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 1,199 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $381,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 665.5% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 35,113 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $11,149,000 after acquiring an additional 30,526 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.