Brokerages Set Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) Target Price at $248.06

Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the eighteen ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, ten have issued a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $248.06.

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on WSM shares. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research report on Friday, March 15th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $260.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $330.00 price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $200.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, Loop Capital lifted their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $220.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Laura Alber sold 20,000 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.74, for a total transaction of $5,674,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 505,509 shares in the company, valued at $143,433,123.66. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Williams-Sonoma news, CEO Laura Alber sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $143,433,123.66. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Marta Benson sold 17,816 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $308.19, for a total value of $5,490,713.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 68,597 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,140,909.43. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 41,145 shares of company stock worth $12,182,219. 1.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 1.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,456,161 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $226,287,000 after buying an additional 18,004 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 970,737 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $195,882,000 after buying an additional 23,918 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 2.4% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 785,457 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $249,406,000 after buying an additional 18,358 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 785,143 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $158,426,000 after buying an additional 72,843 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma in the fourth quarter worth about $152,843,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.29% of the company’s stock.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE WSM opened at $282.16 on Tuesday. Williams-Sonoma has a fifty-two week low of $109.44 and a fifty-two week high of $319.78. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $275.21 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $218.13. The firm has a market cap of $18.13 billion, a PE ratio of 19.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.70.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $5.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.06 by $0.38. The firm had revenue of $2.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.22 billion. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 55.15% and a net margin of 12.25%. Williams-Sonoma’s quarterly revenue was down 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.50 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Williams-Sonoma will post 15.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams-Sonoma Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 19th will be issued a dividend of $1.13 per share. This is an increase from Williams-Sonoma’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 18th. This represents a $4.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.60%. Williams-Sonoma’s payout ratio is currently 31.02%.

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.