Barclays Lowers Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) Price Target to $116.00

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) had its price objective lowered by investment analysts at Barclays from $232.00 to $116.00 in a research note issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “underweight” rating on the specialty retailer’s stock. Barclays‘s price objective would indicate a potential downside of 12.93% from the stock’s current price.

Several other analysts have also commented on WSM. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $155.00 to $135.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $170.00 price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. Wedbush dropped their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $350.00 to $175.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $150.00 price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research note on Friday, June 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $135.10.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Up 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE:WSM traded up $2.72 during trading on Friday, hitting $133.22. The stock had a trading volume of 105,645 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,004,749. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $146.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $141.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.75. Williams-Sonoma has a 12-month low of $69.02 and a 12-month high of $174.26.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 22nd. The specialty retailer reported $1.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.81 billion. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 54.50% and a net margin of 13.83%. Williams-Sonoma’s quarterly revenue was down 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.56 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Williams-Sonoma will post 7.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Williams-Sonoma

In related news, CEO Laura Alber sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.45, for a total value of $6,258,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,070,956 shares in the company, valued at approximately $167,551,066.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, CEO Laura Alber sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.45, for a total transaction of $6,258,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,070,956 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $167,551,066.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Monica Bhargava sold 17,862 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.14, for a total value of $2,663,938.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company 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 business. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 2,591.1% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,211 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $244,000 after purchasing an additional 1,166 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 8,506 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,716,000 after purchasing an additional 282 shares during the period. Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 30.5% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 231 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 82.7% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 601 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $121,000 after buying an additional 272 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $253,000. 99.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.