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

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) had its target price upped by Wedbush from $150.00 to $175.00 in a report published on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the specialty retailer’s stock.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an outperform rating and set a $170.00 price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a report on Monday, November 13th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $103.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a sell rating in a report on Thursday, August 24th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $143.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, August 24th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Williams-Sonoma from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Tuesday, October 3rd. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $146.00 to $167.00 in a report on Thursday, October 5th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Williams-Sonoma presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $154.31.

Williams-Sonoma Price Performance

Williams-Sonoma stock opened at $181.97 on Friday. Williams-Sonoma has a 12-month low of $109.44 and a 12-month high of $182.00. The company has a market capitalization of $12.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.55. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $153.76 and its 200 day moving average price is $137.10.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 16th. The specialty retailer reported $3.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.34 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $1.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.95 billion. Williams-Sonoma had a net margin of 11.99% and a return on equity of 61.68%. Analysts forecast that Williams-Sonoma will post 13.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 20th will be given a dividend of $0.90 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 19th. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.98%. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.98%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Williams-Sonoma news, CEO Marta Benson sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.68, for a total transaction of $1,406,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,238 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,630,201.84. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Laura Alber sold 18,189 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.92, for a total value of $2,817,839.88. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 545,509 shares in the company, valued at approximately $84,510,254.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Marta Benson sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.68, for a total transaction of $1,406,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 54,238 shares in the company, valued at $7,630,201.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 130,000 shares of company stock worth $19,496,290. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Williams-Sonoma

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,269,096 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $283,955,000 after purchasing an additional 15,078 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,456,161 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $226,287,000 after purchasing an additional 18,004 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 24.1% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,408,911 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $204,292,000 after purchasing an additional 273,424 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,142,272 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $142,944,000 after purchasing an additional 35,315 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 951,820 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $119,105,000 after purchasing an additional 9,994 shares in the last quarter. 99.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.