Wells Fargo & Company Cuts Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) Price Target to $170.00

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) had its target price cut by Wells Fargo & Company from $195.00 to $170.00 in a research report report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the specialty retailer’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on WSM. Wedbush dropped their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $190.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $153.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Loop Capital upped their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $145.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $140.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $162.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Williams-Sonoma currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $176.13.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Performance

NYSE WSM opened at $165.29 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.55, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.82. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $197.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $171.83. Williams-Sonoma has a 52 week low of $125.33 and a 52 week high of $219.98.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The specialty retailer reported $3.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.88 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $2.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.34 billion. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 51.56% and a net margin of 14.54%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $5.44 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Williams-Sonoma will post 8.36 EPS for the current year.

Williams-Sonoma Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, May 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. This is a positive change from Williams-Sonoma’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio is 26.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Laura Alber sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.76, for a total transaction of $9,349,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 944,666 shares in the company, valued at $196,263,808.16. This represents a 4.55 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 1,408 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $273,602.56. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 46,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,014,116.16. This represents a 2.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Williams-Sonoma

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. 111 Capital bought a new position in Williams-Sonoma in the fourth quarter valued at about $557,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its position in Williams-Sonoma by 111.7% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 54,745 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $10,138,000 after purchasing an additional 28,880 shares during the last quarter. PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co bought a new position in Williams-Sonoma in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,111,000. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH raised its position in Williams-Sonoma by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 1,396 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $260,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Williams-Sonoma in the fourth quarter valued at about $86,000. 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.