Royal Bank of Canada Issues Positive Forecast for Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) Stock Price

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) had its price target hoisted by Royal Bank of Canada from $162.00 to $189.00 in a research report report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the specialty retailer’s stock.

WSM has been the topic of several other reports. Wedbush lowered 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 research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $158.00 to $145.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Loop Capital upped their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $145.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Barclays upped their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $116.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on Williams-Sonoma from $140.00 to $134.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $154.41.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WSM traded up $1.33 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $173.82. 139,044 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,960,403. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $143.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $144.74. Williams-Sonoma has a 12 month low of $90.31 and a 12 month high of $181.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 1.76.

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

Williams-Sonoma Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 18th. Williams-Sonoma’s payout ratio is presently 26.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams-Sonoma

In related news, EVP Karalyn Smith sold 11,100 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,040,099. This trade represents a 42.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Laura Alber sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.27, for a total value 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 91,100 shares of company stock valued at $12,525,126 in the last ninety days. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Williams-Sonoma

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WSM. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 72.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,781,201 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,360,384,000 after purchasing an additional 3,695,837 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Williams-Sonoma by 108.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,329,125 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $825,588,000 after buying an additional 2,777,339 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Williams-Sonoma by 107.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,689,451 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $418,223,000 after buying an additional 1,393,436 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in Williams-Sonoma by 118.7% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,110,320 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $326,931,000 after buying an additional 1,145,410 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its position in Williams-Sonoma by 324.4% during 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 buying an additional 792,068 shares in the last quarter. 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.