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

Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. Telsey Advisory Group currently has a $165.00 price target on the specialty retailer’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on WSM. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Williams-Sonoma from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $148.00 to $156.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $150.00 to $147.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Wedbush downgraded shares of Williams-Sonoma from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $150.00 to $135.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $155.00 to $135.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $139.47.

Williams-Sonoma Price Performance

Shares of Williams-Sonoma stock opened at $133.89 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $141.35 and a 200 day moving average of $144.52. The firm has a market cap of $16.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.69, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.76. Williams-Sonoma has a 1 year low of $88.24 and a 1 year high of $174.26.

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

Williams-Sonoma Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th will be given a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 18th. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Karalyn Smith sold 11,100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.66, for a total value of $1,494,726.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,040,099. This represents a 42.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Laura Alber sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.49, for a total transaction of $5,219,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 990,956 shares in the company, valued at approximately $129,309,848.44. This represents a 3.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 91,100 shares of company stock worth $12,525,126. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 72.7% in the third 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 last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 108.8% in 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 during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 107.5% in 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 during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 118.7% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,110,320 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $326,931,000 after purchasing an additional 1,145,410 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 104.8% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,105,336 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $171,239,000 after purchasing an additional 565,745 shares during the last quarter. 99.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.