Wedbush Raises Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) Price Target to $175.00

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) had its price target raised by analysts at Wedbush from $150.00 to $175.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “neutral” rating on the specialty retailer’s stock. Wedbush’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 0.24% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $125.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $170.00 price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research note on Monday. Barclays boosted their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $115.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 24th. StockNews.com downgraded Williams-Sonoma from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 3rd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Williams-Sonoma from $103.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $148.56.

Williams-Sonoma Price Performance

WSM traded up $3.13 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $174.58. 268,379 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,060,347. The company has a market cap of $11.56 billion, a PE ratio of 12.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.55. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $152.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $135.93. Williams-Sonoma has a one year low of $109.44 and a one year high of $175.17.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 16th. The specialty retailer reported $3.66 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.34 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $1.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.95 billion. Williams-Sonoma had a net margin of 11.68% and a return on equity of 64.43%. On average, research analysts expect that Williams-Sonoma will post 13.92 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams-Sonoma

In other news, CEO Laura Alber sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $15,000,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 565,835 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $84,875,250. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Laura Alber sold 100,000 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $15,000,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 565,835 shares in the company, valued at $84,875,250. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Marta Benson sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.68, for a total value of $1,406,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,238 shares in the company, valued at $7,630,201.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 130,000 shares of company stock valued at $19,496,290. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Williams-Sonoma

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank of Montreal Can acquired a new position in Williams-Sonoma during the 2nd quarter worth $3,662,000. SFE Investment Counsel grew its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 7.6% during the 2nd quarter. SFE Investment Counsel now owns 32,903 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $4,117,000 after buying an additional 2,331 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 26.2% in the 1st quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 30,954 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $3,766,000 after acquiring an additional 6,424 shares during the last quarter. MAI Capital Management raised its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 12.5% in the 1st quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 2,892 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $352,000 after acquiring an additional 321 shares during the period. Finally, UBS Group AG raised its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 28.2% in the 1st quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 308,130 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $37,487,000 after acquiring an additional 67,716 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.76% 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.