Needham & Company LLC Reaffirms Hold Rating for Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM)

Needham & Company LLC reissued their hold rating on shares of Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports.

WSM has been the topic of a number of other reports. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $146.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $200.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. StockNews.com lowered Williams-Sonoma from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. UBS Group increased their price target on Williams-Sonoma from $195.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a sell rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Williams-Sonoma from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $155.00 to $270.00 in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $259.94.

Williams-Sonoma Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE WSM opened at $287.81 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $300.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $238.84. Williams-Sonoma has a 12-month low of $109.44 and a 12-month high of $348.51. The company has a market cap of $18.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.72.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $5.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.06 by $0.38. The business had revenue of $2.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.22 billion. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 54.50% and a net margin of 13.83%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.50 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Williams-Sonoma will post 15.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 24th. Investors of record on Friday, April 19th were given a $1.13 dividend. This is a positive change from Williams-Sonoma’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 18th. This represents a $4.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.57%. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.75%.

Insider Activity

In related 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 48,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,185,328.72. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Marta Benson sold 2,184 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.98, for a total transaction of $685,732.32. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,185,328.72. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Laura Alber sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 505,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $143,433,123.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 61,145 shares of company stock worth $18,552,819 over the last 90 days. 1.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WSM. MCF Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Williams-Sonoma during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P boosted its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 129.3% during the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 188 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 520.0% during the 1st quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 93 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams-Sonoma in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Contravisory Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Williams-Sonoma in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Institutional investors own 99.29% of the company’s stock.

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.