Wells Fargo & Company Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) Stock

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) had its price target hoisted by Wells Fargo & Company from $140.00 to $165.00 in a research note published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the specialty retailer’s stock.

WSM has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $140.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wedbush cut shares of Williams-Sonoma from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $150.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays upped their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $116.00 to $123.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Williams-Sonoma from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $148.00 to $156.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Finally, Loop Capital upped their price target on Williams-Sonoma from $145.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Williams-Sonoma has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $154.41.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Down 0.3 %

WSM stock opened at $171.98 on Thursday. Williams-Sonoma has a twelve month low of $90.31 and a twelve month high of $181.42. The company has a market cap of $21.73 billion, a PE ratio of 20.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 1.76. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $143.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $144.87.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 22nd. The specialty retailer reported $1.74 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.13. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 51.56% and a net margin of 14.54%. The business had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.81 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.56 earnings per share. Williams-Sonoma’s revenue was down 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Williams-Sonoma will post 8.13 EPS for the current year.

Williams-Sonoma Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th were paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.33%. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.97%.

Insider Activity at Williams-Sonoma

In related news, CEO Laura Alber sold 40,000 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.49, for a total value 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 $129,309,848.44. This trade represents a 3.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Karalyn Smith sold 11,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was 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 directly owns 15,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,040,099. This represents a 42.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 91,100 shares of company stock valued at $12,525,126 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Williams-Sonoma

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. EntryPoint Capital LLC boosted its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 520.0% in the first quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 93 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Williams-Sonoma in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Williams-Sonoma in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams-Sonoma in the 2nd quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Smithfield Trust Co grew its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 100.0% during the third quarter. Smithfield Trust Co now owns 160 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.29% 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.