Wayfair (NYSE:W) Stock Price Down 3.6% on Analyst Downgrade

Wayfair Inc. (NYSE:W) shares dropped 3.6% on Wednesday after Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on the stock from $62.00 to $61.00. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a sector perform rating on the stock. Wayfair traded as low as $55.26 and last traded at $55.68. Approximately 726,497 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average daily volume of 4,217,250 shares. The stock had previously closed at $57.75.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Wayfair from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price target on shares of Wayfair in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Wayfair from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 29th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Wayfair from $73.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Raymond James raised shares of Wayfair from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $65.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $76.21.

Insider Activity at Wayfair

In related news, COO Thomas Netzer sold 984 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.58, for a total value of $59,610.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 117,841 shares in the company, valued at $7,138,807.78. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Wayfair news, insider Jon Blotner sold 3,492 shares of Wayfair stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.34, for a total transaction of $175,787.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 32,118 shares in the company, valued at $1,616,820.12. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Thomas Netzer sold 984 shares of Wayfair stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.58, for a total transaction of $59,610.72. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 117,841 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,138,807.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 89,808 shares of company stock worth $5,445,222 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 26.81% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wayfair

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in W. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Wayfair by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 12,042,210 shares of the company’s stock valued at $743,004,000 after buying an additional 962,307 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Wayfair in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,374,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Wayfair by 422.6% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 511,454 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,979,000 after buying an additional 413,592 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Wayfair by 5.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,830,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $474,281,000 after buying an additional 386,717 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kodai Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Wayfair in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $23,552,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.67% of the company’s stock.

Wayfair Price Performance

The business’s 50-day moving average price is $59.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $55.04. The firm has a market cap of $6.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.81 and a beta of 3.29.

Wayfair (NYSE:W) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported ($1.46) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.54) by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $3.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Wayfair Inc. will post -3.37 earnings per share for the current year.

About Wayfair

Wayfair Inc provides e-commerce business in the United States and internationally. The company offers approximately thirty million products for the home sector. It offers online selections of furniture, décor, housewares, and home improvement products through its sites consisting of Wayfair, Joss & Main, AllModern, Birch Lane, Perigold, and Wayfair Professional.