Loop Capital Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) Stock

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) had its target price raised by Loop Capital from $145.00 to $180.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “hold” rating on the specialty retailer’s stock. Loop Capital’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 2.84% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on WSM. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Wedbush cut Williams-Sonoma from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $150.00 to $135.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Telsey Advisory Group boosted their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $165.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price target on Williams-Sonoma from $155.00 to $135.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $142.59.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Performance

Williams-Sonoma stock opened at $175.04 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 1.76. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $142.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $144.55. Williams-Sonoma has a one year low of $88.63 and a one year high of $181.42.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 22nd. The specialty retailer reported $1.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.13. Williams-Sonoma had a net margin of 14.29% and a return on equity of 51.57%. The business had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.81 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.56 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Williams-Sonoma will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Karalyn Smith sold 11,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.66, for a total transaction of $1,494,726.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,150 shares in the company, valued at $2,040,099. The trade was a 42.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Laura Alber sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.27, for a total transaction of $5,810,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,030,956 shares in the company, valued at approximately $149,766,978.12. The trade was a 3.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 91,100 shares of company stock valued at $12,525,126 in the last quarter. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Williams-Sonoma by 72.7% in 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 increased its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 108.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,329,125 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $825,588,000 after purchasing an additional 2,777,339 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 107.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,689,451 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $418,223,000 after purchasing an additional 1,393,436 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Williams-Sonoma by 118.7% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,110,320 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $326,931,000 after purchasing an additional 1,145,410 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its position in Williams-Sonoma by 324.4% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,036,256 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $160,537,000 after purchasing an additional 792,068 shares during the period. 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.