Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) Upgraded to “Neutral” at UBS Group

UBS Group upgraded shares of Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) from a sell rating to a neutral rating in a report issued on Thursday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. UBS Group currently has $165.00 target price on the specialty retailer’s stock, up from their prior target price of $140.00.

WSM has been the subject of several other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Williams-Sonoma from $195.00 to $185.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Williams-Sonoma from $162.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. TD Cowen raised their price target on Williams-Sonoma from $165.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams-Sonoma has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $176.13.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Performance

NYSE:WSM opened at $165.29 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.82. Williams-Sonoma has a 52-week low of $125.33 and a 52-week high of $219.98. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $197.81 and a 200 day moving average of $171.83.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 19th. The specialty retailer reported $3.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.88 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $2.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.34 billion. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 51.56% and a net margin of 14.54%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.44 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Williams-Sonoma will post 8.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, May 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. This is an increase from Williams-Sonoma’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Williams-Sonoma’s payout ratio is currently 26.98%.

Insider Activity at Williams-Sonoma

In related news, CEO Laura Alber sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.76, for a total transaction of $9,349,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 944,666 shares in the company, valued at $196,263,808.16. The trade was a 4.55 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 1,408 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $273,602.56. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 46,388 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,014,116.16. This represents a 2.95 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Williams-Sonoma

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC boosted its position in Williams-Sonoma by 72.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,781,201 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,360,384,000 after acquiring an additional 3,695,837 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Williams-Sonoma by 108.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,329,125 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $825,588,000 after acquiring an additional 2,777,339 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Williams-Sonoma by 107.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,689,451 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $418,223,000 after acquiring an additional 1,393,436 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Williams-Sonoma by 118.7% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,110,320 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $326,931,000 after acquiring an additional 1,145,410 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Williams-Sonoma by 15.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,902,382 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $352,283,000 after acquiring an additional 249,389 shares in the last quarter. 99.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Williams-Sonoma Company Profile

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.