Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) Receives Average Recommendation of "Hold" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has received an average broker recommendation of "Hold", with ratings varying from one sell, ten hold, seven buy, to one strong buy.
• The company reported quarterly earnings of $1.85 per share, beating analyst estimates, with a revenue increase of 4.2% year-over-year, totaling $1.73 billion.
• Williams-Sonoma will pay a quarterly dividend of $0.66 per share on August 22nd, reflecting an annualized yield of 1.3%.

Shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average recommendation of "Hold" from the nineteen brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $178.4118.

A number of analysts recently issued reports on WSM shares. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an "outperform" rating and set a $215.00 target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research report on Tuesday, June 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $201.00 to $174.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of Williams-Sonoma from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $205.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp upgraded shares of Williams-Sonoma from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $181.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th.

Williams-Sonoma Price Performance

Shares of WSM opened at $199.68 on Monday. Williams-Sonoma has a 1-year low of $125.33 and a 1-year high of $219.98. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $171.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $173.03. The stock has a market cap of $24.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 1.47.

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

Williams-Sonoma Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 18th will be issued a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 18th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. Williams-Sonoma's payout ratio is currently 29.90%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Williams-Sonoma news, CEO Laura Alber sold 30,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.33, for a total value of $4,929,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 996,927 shares in the company, valued at $163,825,013.91. The trade was a 2.92% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 4,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.96, for a total transaction of $675,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 34,388 shares in the company, valued at $5,810,196.48. This represents a 10.42% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 68,000 shares of company stock worth $11,279,580 in the last quarter. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Williams-Sonoma

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WSM. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 21.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,630,310 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $2,471,152,000 after purchasing an additional 2,797,562 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma in the 1st quarter worth about $85,075,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 740.4% in the 2nd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 591,690 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $96,664,000 after purchasing an additional 521,283 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 1,272.6% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 512,846 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $81,081,000 after purchasing an additional 475,484 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP bought a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma in the 4th quarter worth about $87,148,000. 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.