Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) Price Target Cut to $145.00 by Analysts at Wells Fargo & Company

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) had its price objective lowered by Wells Fargo & Company from $158.00 to $145.00 in a research note released on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the specialty retailer’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on WSM. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $170.00 price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research report on Monday. 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 research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $150.00 price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research note on Friday, June 7th. Wedbush decreased their price target on Williams-Sonoma from $350.00 to $175.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price target on Williams-Sonoma from $340.00 to $170.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given 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 a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $138.77.

Williams-Sonoma Price Performance

Shares of WSM stock opened at $130.61 on Monday. Williams-Sonoma has a 1-year low of $65.23 and a 1-year high of $174.26. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $146.38 and its 200 day moving average is $141.52. The company has a market cap of $16.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.04, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.75.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 22nd. The specialty retailer reported $2.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.65. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 54.50% and a net margin of 13.83%. The company had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. On average, analysts anticipate that Williams-Sonoma will post 7.24 EPS for the current year.

Williams-Sonoma Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 19th will be issued a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 19th. Williams-Sonoma’s payout ratio is presently 27.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams-Sonoma

In other Williams-Sonoma news, insider Monica Bhargava sold 17,862 shares of the business’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 value of $2,663,938.68. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Monica Bhargava sold 17,862 shares of the business’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 value of $2,663,938.68. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Laura Alber sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.45, for a total value of $6,258,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,070,956 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $167,551,066.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Williams-Sonoma

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the fourth quarter worth approximately $274,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 64,062 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $12,927,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares in the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 425.3% during the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 78,060 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $15,751,000 after purchasing an additional 63,200 shares in the last quarter. Greatmark Investment Partners Inc. increased its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Greatmark Investment Partners Inc. now owns 7,219 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,457,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chase Investment Counsel Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,210,000. 99.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.