Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) Lifted to Neutral at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) was upgraded by analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note issued on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has a $275.00 target price on the specialty retailer’s stock, up from their prior target price of $245.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s target price indicates a potential downside of 9.75% from the company’s previous close.

WSM has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $330.00 target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $315.00 to $300.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Williams-Sonoma from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $155.00 to $270.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. StockNews.com cut shares of Williams-Sonoma from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group raised their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Williams-Sonoma has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $256.19.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Performance

NYSE:WSM opened at $304.70 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.58 billion, a PE ratio of 20.91, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 1.72. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $281.84 and its 200 day moving average is $222.62. Williams-Sonoma has a fifty-two week low of $109.44 and a fifty-two week high of $319.78.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last announced its earnings results 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. Williams-Sonoma had a net margin of 12.25% and a return on equity of 55.15%. The business had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.50 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Williams-Sonoma will post 15.37 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams-Sonoma

In other Williams-Sonoma news, CEO Marta Benson sold 2,184 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.98, for a total value of $685,732.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,364 shares in the company, valued at $15,185,328.72. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Laura Alber sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 505,509 shares in the company, valued at $143,433,123.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Marta Benson sold 2,184 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.98, for a total transaction of $685,732.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,185,328.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 41,145 shares of company stock valued at $12,182,219. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. MCF Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 129.3% during the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 188 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Williams-Sonoma in the first quarter valued at about $32,000. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Williams-Sonoma in the first quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 820.0% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 230 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.29% of the company’s stock.

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.