JPMorgan Chase & Co. Upgrades Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) to Neutral

JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) from an underweight rating to a neutral rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has $275.00 price target on the specialty retailer’s stock, up from their previous price target of $245.00.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Williams-Sonoma from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating and lifted their target price for the company from $155.00 to $270.00 in a report on Thursday, March 14th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $195.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a sell rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Oppenheimer restated a market perform rating on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a report on Friday, March 15th. Wedbush reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a $330.00 target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Williams-Sonoma from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $256.19.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Up 4.3 %

Shares of Williams-Sonoma stock opened at $304.70 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $19.58 billion, a PE ratio of 20.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.72. Williams-Sonoma has a 52 week low of $109.44 and a 52 week high of $319.78. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $281.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $223.06.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $5.44 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.06 by $0.38. The company had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.22 billion. Williams-Sonoma had a net margin of 12.25% and a return on equity of 55.15%. Williams-Sonoma’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $5.50 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Williams-Sonoma will post 15.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams-Sonoma Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 19th will be given a dividend of $1.13 per share. This is a boost from Williams-Sonoma’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. This represents a $4.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.48%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 18th. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.02%.

Insider Transactions at Williams-Sonoma

In related news, CEO Laura Alber sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.74, for a total transaction of $5,674,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 505,509 shares in the company, valued at $143,433,123.66. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Laura Alber sold 20,000 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.74, for a total transaction of $5,674,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 505,509 shares in the company, valued at approximately $143,433,123.66. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Karalyn Smith sold 1,145 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.06, for a total transaction of $330,973.70. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,013,591.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 41,145 shares of company stock valued at $12,182,219. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AE Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma in the third quarter valued at approximately $275,000. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Williams-Sonoma in the 3rd quarter valued at $153,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its position in Williams-Sonoma by 11.7% in the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 7,270 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,130,000 after purchasing an additional 761 shares during the last quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Williams-Sonoma during the 3rd quarter worth $74,000. Finally, Raymond James & Associates grew its position in Williams-Sonoma by 8.4% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 119,670 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $18,597,000 after purchasing an additional 9,239 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.