Wayfair (NYSE:W) Shares Gap Up Following Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Wayfair shares experienced a significant gap up, opening at $90.85 after closing at $88.39, with a trading volume of over 1.2 million shares.
• Multiple analysts have upgraded their ratings for Wayfair, including Morgan Stanley with an increased price target of $70.00, while Piper Sandler set a target of $95.00.
• The company's quarterly earnings outperformed expectations, reporting $0.87 earnings per share against a consensus estimate of $0.33, alongside 5.0% year-over-year revenue growth to $3.27 billion.

Shares of Wayfair Inc. (NYSE:W - Get Free Report) gapped up before the market opened on Friday after Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on the stock from $91.00 to $102.00. The stock had previously closed at $88.39, but opened at $90.85. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Wayfair shares last traded at $91.22, with a volume of 1,298,871 shares traded.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on W. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Wayfair from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a "market perform" rating and set a $68.00 target price (up from $38.00) on shares of Wayfair in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Mizuho increased their target price on Wayfair from $50.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Raymond James Financial restated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Wayfair in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Wayfair from $80.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Wayfair currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $71.15.

Insider Activity at Wayfair

In other news, CEO Niraj Shah sold 85,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.07, for a total value of $6,805,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 459,137 shares in the company, valued at $36,763,099.59. This represents a 15.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Steven Conine sold 85,000 shares of Wayfair stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.07, for a total transaction of $6,805,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 459,073 shares in the company, valued at $36,757,975.11. The trade was a 15.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,173,857 shares of company stock worth $78,435,227 in the last 90 days. 21.91% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of W. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans bought a new position in Wayfair during the second quarter worth $661,000. Marex Group plc bought a new stake in Wayfair in the 2nd quarter valued at $652,000. Advisory Services Network LLC acquired a new position in Wayfair in the 2nd quarter worth about $553,000. Two Sigma Securities LLC boosted its holdings in Wayfair by 136.0% in the second quarter. Two Sigma Securities LLC now owns 17,458 shares of the company's stock worth $893,000 after acquiring an additional 10,061 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC increased its position in Wayfair by 16.3% in the second quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 14,232 shares of the company's stock worth $728,000 after buying an additional 1,994 shares during the last quarter. 89.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wayfair Price Performance

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $74.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $50.72. The stock has a market cap of $11.58 billion, a P/E ratio of -37.20 and a beta of 2.95.

Wayfair (NYSE:W - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 4th. The company reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.54. The business had revenue of $3.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.11 billion. The business's quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.47 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Wayfair Inc. will post -2.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Wayfair Company Profile

Wayfair Inc provides e-commerce business in the United States and internationally. The company offers approximately thirty million products for the home sector. It offers online selections of furniture, décor, housewares, and home improvement products through its sites consisting of Wayfair, Joss & Main, AllModern, Birch Lane, Perigold, and Wayfair Professional.