Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Royal Bank of Canada Analyst Says

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) had its target price lifted by equities research analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $162.00 to $189.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the specialty retailer’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target suggests a potential upside of 9.96% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on WSM. Citigroup dropped their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $140.00 to $134.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Telsey Advisory Group boosted their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $165.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $158.00 to $145.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Williams-Sonoma from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $148.00 to $156.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $154.41.

Williams-Sonoma Trading Down 0.4 %

Williams-Sonoma stock opened at $171.88 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $21.71 billion, a PE ratio of 20.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 1.76. Williams-Sonoma has a 12 month low of $90.31 and a 12 month high of $181.42. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $143.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $144.74.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 22nd. The specialty retailer reported $1.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.13. Williams-Sonoma had a net margin of 14.29% and a return on equity of 51.57%. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.81 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.56 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Williams-Sonoma will post 7.95 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams-Sonoma

In other Williams-Sonoma news, EVP Karalyn Smith sold 11,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.66, for a total transaction of $1,494,726.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Laura Alber sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.27, for a total value of $5,810,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,030,956 shares in the company, valued at approximately $149,766,978.12. This trade represents a 3.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 91,100 shares of company stock worth $12,525,126 in the last three months. 1.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Williams-Sonoma

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 72.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,781,201 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,360,384,000 after purchasing an additional 3,695,837 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 108.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,329,125 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $825,588,000 after purchasing an additional 2,777,339 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 107.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,689,451 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $418,223,000 after purchasing an additional 1,393,436 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 118.7% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,110,320 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $326,931,000 after buying an additional 1,145,410 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 324.4% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,036,256 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $160,537,000 after buying an additional 792,068 shares in the last quarter. 99.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Williams-Sonoma

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.