Telsey Advisory Group Reaffirms Outperform Rating for Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM)

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating restated by investment analysts at Telsey Advisory Group in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $165.00 target price on the specialty retailer’s stock. Telsey Advisory Group’s price target indicates a potential upside of 26.29% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on WSM. TD Cowen raised their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Wedbush cut shares of Williams-Sonoma from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $150.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $150.00 to $147.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $155.00 to $135.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $232.00 to $116.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $139.47.

Williams-Sonoma Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE:WSM traded down $0.17 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $130.65. 1,885,075 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,920,463. Williams-Sonoma has a twelve month low of $80.49 and a twelve month high of $174.26. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $141.35 and a 200 day moving average of $144.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.76.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 22nd. The specialty retailer reported $1.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.13. Williams-Sonoma had a net margin of 14.29% and a return on equity of 51.57%. The business had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.81 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.56 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Williams-Sonoma will post 7.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Williams-Sonoma news, CEO Laura Alber sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.27, for a total transaction of $5,810,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,030,956 shares in the company, valued at approximately $149,766,978.12. The trade was a 3.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Karalyn Smith sold 11,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,150 shares in the company, 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. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Williams-Sonoma

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quent Capital LLC increased its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 19.7% in the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 358 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $114,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 28.8% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 7,281 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $2,312,000 after buying an additional 1,629 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 39.6% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 13,383 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $4,250,000 after buying an additional 3,798 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 6.3% during the 1st quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 1,199 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $381,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Williams-Sonoma by 665.5% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 35,113 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $11,149,000 after acquiring an additional 30,526 shares in 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.