Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) Given New $290.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) had its price target increased by stock analysts at Morgan Stanley from $270.00 to $290.00 in a report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “equal weight” rating on the specialty retailer’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price points to a potential upside of 1.51% from the company’s previous close.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Williams-Sonoma from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $245.00 to $275.00 in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $195.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Loop Capital lifted their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $220.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $146.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $250.00 to $298.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Williams-Sonoma presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $259.94.

Williams-Sonoma Trading Up 2.1 %

WSM stock traded up $5.77 during trading on Thursday, hitting $285.70. The company had a trading volume of 834,296 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,012,449. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $299.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $236.95. The company has a market cap of $18.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.72. Williams-Sonoma has a fifty-two week low of $109.44 and a fifty-two week high of $348.51.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $5.44 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 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 in the previous year, the firm earned $5.50 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Williams-Sonoma will post 15.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Laura Alber sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $318.53, for a total transaction of $6,370,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 555,550 shares in the company, valued at $176,959,341.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Williams-Sonoma news, CEO Laura Alber sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $318.53, for a total value of $6,370,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 555,550 shares in the company, valued at $176,959,341.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Karalyn Smith sold 1,145 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 61,145 shares of company stock worth $18,552,819. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Williams-Sonoma

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. bought a new position in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the fourth quarter worth approximately $274,000. Sapient Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Williams-Sonoma during the fourth quarter worth approximately $220,000. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Williams-Sonoma during the third quarter worth approximately $4,102,000. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC grew its position in Williams-Sonoma by 11.5% during the third quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 20,711 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $3,218,000 after buying an additional 2,128 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its position in Williams-Sonoma by 425.3% during the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 78,060 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $15,751,000 after buying an additional 63,200 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.