Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) Price Target Raised to $175.00

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) had its price target upped by research analysts at Wedbush from $150.00 to $175.00 in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “neutral” rating on the specialty retailer’s stock. Wedbush’s target price indicates a potential upside of 0.24% from the stock’s current price.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $125.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $115.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 24th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $103.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 24th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Williams-Sonoma from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Williams-Sonoma from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $116.00 to $144.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 31st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Williams-Sonoma presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $148.56.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Performance

WSM traded up $3.13 during trading on Friday, reaching $174.58. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 268,379 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,060,347. The company has a market capitalization of $11.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.55. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $152.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $135.93. Williams-Sonoma has a 52-week low of $109.44 and a 52-week high of $175.17.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 16th. The specialty retailer reported $3.66 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.34 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $1.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.95 billion. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 64.43% and a net margin of 11.68%. Equities analysts predict that Williams-Sonoma will post 13.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Williams-Sonoma news, CEO Laura Alber sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $15,000,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 565,835 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $84,875,250. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Marta Benson sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.68, for a total value of $1,406,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,238 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,630,201.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Laura Alber sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total transaction of $15,000,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 565,835 shares in the company, valued at $84,875,250. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 130,000 shares of company stock valued at $19,496,290. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Williams-Sonoma

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank of Montreal Can acquired a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $3,662,000. SFE Investment Counsel lifted its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 7.6% in the 2nd quarter. SFE Investment Counsel now owns 32,903 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $4,117,000 after buying an additional 2,331 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 26.2% during the 1st quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 30,954 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $3,766,000 after buying an additional 6,424 shares during the last quarter. MAI Capital Management increased its position in Williams-Sonoma by 12.5% in the first quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 2,892 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $352,000 after buying an additional 321 shares during the period. Finally, UBS Group AG lifted its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 28.2% in the first quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 308,130 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $37,487,000 after buying an additional 67,716 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.76% of the company’s stock.

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.