Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) Stock Price Down 2.1% on Analyst Downgrade

Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)’s share price dropped 2.1% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Evercore ISI lowered their price target on the stock from $315.00 to $300.00. Evercore ISI currently has an in-line rating on the stock. Williams-Sonoma traded as low as $279.18 and last traded at $282.55. Approximately 1,231,111 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 45% from the average daily volume of 849,937 shares. The stock had previously closed at $288.53.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Barclays upped their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $146.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $200.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Williams-Sonoma from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $155.00 to $270.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on Williams-Sonoma from $195.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Williams-Sonoma has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $248.06.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams-Sonoma

In other Williams-Sonoma news, CEO Laura Alber sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.74, for a total value of $5,674,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 505,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $143,433,123.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CEO Laura Alber sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.74, for a total transaction of $5,674,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 505,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $143,433,123.66. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Marta Benson sold 2,184 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.98, for a total value of $685,732.32. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,364 shares in the company, valued at $15,185,328.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 41,145 shares of company stock valued at $12,182,219 in the last ninety days. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Williams-Sonoma

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 0.7% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,269,096 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $283,955,000 after buying an additional 15,078 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 1.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,456,161 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $226,287,000 after buying an additional 18,004 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 24.1% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,408,911 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $204,292,000 after buying an additional 273,424 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 970,737 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $195,882,000 after buying an additional 23,918 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 35.4% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 815,713 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $93,742,000 after buying an additional 213,398 shares in the last quarter. 99.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Down 0.1 %

The firm has a 50 day moving average of $266.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $211.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.70.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $5.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.06 by $0.38. The business had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.22 billion. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 55.15% and a net margin of 12.25%. Williams-Sonoma’s revenue was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.50 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 15.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 19th will be given a $1.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 18th. This is an increase from Williams-Sonoma’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. This represents a $4.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.60%. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.71%.

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.