Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) Upgraded at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) was upgraded by research analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report issued on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has a $275.00 price objective on the specialty retailer’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $245.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price target points to a potential downside of 5.90% from the stock’s previous close.

WSM has been the subject of several other reports. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $315.00 to $300.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $261.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. StockNews.com cut shares of Williams-Sonoma from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Williams-Sonoma from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $154.00 to $263.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group upped their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $256.19.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Up 3.0 %

Shares of Williams-Sonoma stock opened at $292.24 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $280.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $221.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.06, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.72. Williams-Sonoma has a 52 week low of $109.44 and a 52 week high of $319.78.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $5.44 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.06 by $0.38. Williams-Sonoma had a net margin of 12.25% and a return on equity of 55.15%. The business had revenue of $2.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.50 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Williams-Sonoma will post 15.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Williams-Sonoma news, CEO Laura Alber sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.74, for a total value of $5,674,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 505,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $143,433,123.66. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Marta Benson sold 17,816 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $308.19, for a total value of $5,490,713.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 68,597 shares in the company, valued at $21,140,909.43. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Laura Alber sold 20,000 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were 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 owns 505,509 shares in the company, valued at approximately $143,433,123.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 41,145 shares of company stock worth $12,182,219 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Williams-Sonoma

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. AE Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma in the 3rd quarter valued at $275,000. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Williams-Sonoma in the third quarter valued at approximately $153,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 11.7% in the third quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 7,270 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,130,000 after purchasing an additional 761 shares in the last quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Williams-Sonoma during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $74,000. Finally, Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in Williams-Sonoma by 8.4% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 119,670 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $18,597,000 after buying an additional 9,239 shares in the last quarter. 99.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.