Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) PT Raised to $320.00 at Evercore ISI

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) had its target price increased by research analysts at Evercore ISI from $300.00 to $320.00 in a research report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “in-line” rating on the specialty retailer’s stock. Evercore ISI’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 1.85% from the company’s current price.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on WSM. Bank of America increased their price target on Williams-Sonoma from $250.00 to $298.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Loop Capital increased their price target on Williams-Sonoma from $220.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Williams-Sonoma from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $154.00 to $263.00 in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Telsey Advisory Group increased their price target on Williams-Sonoma from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Williams-Sonoma from $146.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Williams-Sonoma presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $249.31.

Williams-Sonoma Trading Up 1.9 %

WSM stock opened at $314.18 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.14 billion, a PE ratio of 21.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.66. Williams-Sonoma has a 12-month low of $109.44 and a 12-month high of $317.65. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $237.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $195.61.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $5.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.06 by $0.38. The business had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.22 billion. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 55.15% and a net margin of 12.25%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.50 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Williams-Sonoma will post 15.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Williams-Sonoma news, EVP Karalyn Smith sold 1,145 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.06, for a total value of $330,973.70. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,013,591.96. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, EVP Karalyn Smith sold 1,145 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.06, for a total transaction of $330,973.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 6,966 shares in the company, valued at $2,013,591.96. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Laura Alber sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.74, for a total value of $5,674,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 505,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $143,433,123.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 41,145 shares of company stock worth $10,044,174. Corporate insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 0.7% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,269,096 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $283,955,000 after acquiring an additional 15,078 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 1.3% during 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 acquiring an additional 18,004 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 24.1% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,408,911 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $204,292,000 after acquiring an additional 273,424 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 3.2% during 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Williams-Sonoma by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 970,737 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $195,882,000 after acquiring an additional 23,918 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.