Evercore ISI Increases Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) Price Target to $320.00

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) had its target price lifted by analysts at Evercore ISI from $300.00 to $320.00 in a report released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “in-line” rating on the specialty retailer’s stock. Evercore ISI’s price target points to a potential upside of 1.85% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on WSM. Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a report on Friday, March 15th. Telsey Advisory Group boosted their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $330.00 target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Barclays upped 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, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Williams-Sonoma from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $154.00 to $263.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Four equities research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams-Sonoma presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $249.31.

Williams-Sonoma Price Performance

Shares of Williams-Sonoma stock opened at $314.18 on Tuesday. Williams-Sonoma has a 1-year low of $109.44 and a 1-year high of $317.65. The stock has a market cap of $20.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.66. 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 results on Wednesday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $5.44 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.06 by $0.38. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 55.15% and a net margin of 12.25%. The company had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.50 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Williams-Sonoma will post 15.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Williams-Sonoma

In other Williams-Sonoma news, CEO Laura Alber sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.92, for a total transaction of $4,038,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 525,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $106,110,777.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, EVP Karalyn Smith sold 1,145 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.06, for a total transaction of $330,973.70. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,013,591.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Laura Alber sold 20,000 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.92, for a total value of $4,038,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 525,509 shares in the company, valued at $106,110,777.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 41,145 shares of company stock valued at $10,044,174. Insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Williams-Sonoma

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Williams-Sonoma during the fourth quarter valued at $152,843,000. Holocene Advisors LP acquired a new stake in Williams-Sonoma during the second quarter worth about $56,497,000. Steadfast Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Williams-Sonoma during the first quarter valued at approximately $50,715,000. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Williams-Sonoma by 24.1% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,408,911 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $204,292,000 after purchasing an additional 273,424 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Williams-Sonoma in the 1st quarter worth approximately $29,782,000. 99.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.