Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) Price Target Raised to $168.00 at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) had its price objective upped by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $153.00 to $168.00 in a research note released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the specialty retailer’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on WSM. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $162.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $140.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $194.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $165.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $177.93.

Williams-Sonoma Price Performance

Williams-Sonoma stock opened at $163.27 on Thursday. Williams-Sonoma has a 12 month low of $125.33 and a 12 month high of $219.98. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $197.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $172.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.10 billion, a PE ratio of 19.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.82.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The specialty retailer reported $3.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.88 by $0.40. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 51.56% and a net margin of 14.54%. The business had revenue of $2.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.34 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $5.44 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Williams-Sonoma will post 8.36 EPS for the current year.

Williams-Sonoma Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, May 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 17th will be issued a $0.66 dividend. This is a positive change from Williams-Sonoma’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.62%. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio is 29.30%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams-Sonoma

In related news, CEO Laura Alber sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.76, for a total transaction of $9,349,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 944,666 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $196,263,808.16. This trade represents a 4.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 1,408 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $273,602.56. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,388 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,014,116.16. The trade was a 2.95 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Williams-Sonoma

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in WSM. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 72.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,781,201 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,360,384,000 after acquiring an additional 3,695,837 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 108.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,329,125 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $825,588,000 after acquiring an additional 2,777,339 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the fourth quarter valued at $290,121,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $418,223,000 after acquiring an additional 1,393,436 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 118.7% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.