Evercore ISI Increases Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) Price Target to $175.00

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) had its price objective lifted by Evercore ISI from $160.00 to $175.00 in a research report report published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. Evercore ISI currently has an in-line rating on the specialty retailer’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup lifted their price target on Williams-Sonoma from $123.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Williams-Sonoma from $120.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Thursday, August 24th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Williams-Sonoma from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, August 24th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $170.00 price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a report on Monday, November 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Williams-Sonoma from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $154.31.

Williams-Sonoma Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of WSM opened at $181.97 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.55. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $153.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $137.10. Williams-Sonoma has a twelve month low of $109.44 and a twelve month high of $182.00.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 16th. The specialty retailer reported $3.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.34 by $0.32. The business had revenue of $1.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.95 billion. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 61.68% and a net margin of 11.99%. Sell-side analysts predict that Williams-Sonoma will post 13.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams-Sonoma Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 24th. Investors of record on Friday, October 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.90 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 19th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.98%. Williams-Sonoma’s payout ratio is 24.98%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Williams-Sonoma news, CEO Laura Alber sold 18,189 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.92, for a total value of $2,817,839.88. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 545,509 shares in the company, valued at $84,510,254.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Williams-Sonoma news, CEO Laura Alber sold 18,189 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.92, for a total value of $2,817,839.88. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 545,509 shares in the company, valued at $84,510,254.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Marta Benson sold 10,000 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.68, for a total transaction of $1,406,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 54,238 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,630,201.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 130,000 shares of company stock worth $19,496,290. 1.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WSM. Bogart Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Williams-Sonoma during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in Williams-Sonoma by 863.6% during the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 212 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares in the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its position in Williams-Sonoma by 129.3% during the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 188 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. Denali Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Williams-Sonoma during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Quarry LP grew its position in Williams-Sonoma by 229.8% during the 1st quarter. Quarry LP now owns 277 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.76% of the company’s stock.

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.