Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) Given “Outperform” Rating at Telsey Advisory Group

Telsey Advisory Group reissued their outperform rating on shares of Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. Telsey Advisory Group currently has a $215.00 target price on the specialty retailer’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on WSM. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $165.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Williams-Sonoma from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $181.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, April 25th. Robert W. Baird raised Williams-Sonoma from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $170.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Barclays set a $166.00 target price on Williams-Sonoma and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $176.75.

Williams-Sonoma Price Performance

Shares of WSM opened at $157.00 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $157.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $177.48. Williams-Sonoma has a one year low of $125.33 and a one year high of $219.98. The company has a market cap of $19.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.47.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 22nd. The specialty retailer reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.76 by $0.09. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 52.79% and a net margin of 14.35%. The company had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.48 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Williams-Sonoma will post 8.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 18th. Williams-Sonoma’s payout ratio is presently 29.90%.

Insider Transactions at Williams-Sonoma

In other news, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 36,312 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.79, for a total transaction of $6,020,166.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,388 shares in the company, valued at $7,690,666.52. The trade was a 43.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Laura Alber sold 30,000 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.78, for a total value of $4,973,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,018,374 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $168,826,041.72. This trade represents a 2.86% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 113,227 shares of company stock valued at $18,520,913. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Williams-Sonoma

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WSM. Quarry LP increased its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 99.0% in the first quarter. Quarry LP now owns 199 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Williams-Sonoma in the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. Costello Asset Management INC purchased a new position in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. purchased a new position in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the 1st quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Sentry Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Williams-Sonoma in the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. 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.