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

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) had its price target lowered by investment analysts at Barclays from $232.00 to $116.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “underweight” rating on the specialty retailer’s stock. Barclays‘s price target suggests a potential downside of 12.93% from the stock’s previous close.

WSM has been the subject of a number of other reports. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $170.00 price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research report on Friday, June 7th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Williams-Sonoma from $158.00 to $145.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $170.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $135.10.

Williams-Sonoma Price Performance

Shares of WSM stock traded up $2.72 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $133.22. The company had a trading volume of 105,645 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,004,749. Williams-Sonoma has a 12 month low of $69.02 and a 12 month high of $174.26. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $146.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $141.52. The company has a market cap 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 (NYSE:WSM) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 22nd. The specialty retailer reported $1.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.10. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 54.50% and a net margin of 13.83%. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.81 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.56 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Williams-Sonoma will post 7.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Williams-Sonoma

In other Williams-Sonoma news, insider Monica Bhargava sold 17,862 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.14, for a total transaction of $2,663,938.68. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Laura Alber sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Monica Bhargava sold 17,862 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 6th. The shares were 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. 1.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Williams-Sonoma

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 6.2% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 12,786 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $3,610,000 after purchasing an additional 741 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 153,491 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $43,341,000 after purchasing an additional 6,945 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 32.3% in the 2nd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 865 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $244,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares in the last quarter. Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma in the 2nd quarter worth $303,000. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 35.9% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,639 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $463,000 after purchasing an additional 433 shares in the last quarter. 99.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.