Wedbush Has Bearish Forecast for Williams-Sonoma Q1 Earnings

Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM - Free Report) - Equities research analysts at Wedbush dropped their Q1 2026 EPS estimates for shares of Williams-Sonoma in a report issued on Thursday, March 20th. Wedbush analyst S. Basham now forecasts that the specialty retailer will post earnings of $1.69 per share for the quarter, down from their prior forecast of $1.72. Wedbush has a "Neutral" rating and a $170.00 price objective on the stock. The consensus estimate for Williams-Sonoma's current full-year earnings is $8.36 per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for Williams-Sonoma's Q2 2026 earnings at $1.72 EPS, FY2026 earnings at $8.43 EPS, Q3 2027 earnings at $2.02 EPS and FY2027 earnings at $9.00 EPS.

WSM has been the topic of several other reports. UBS Group raised Williams-Sonoma from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $140.00 to $165.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $123.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $170.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $195.00 to $170.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of Williams-Sonoma to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. One research 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.com, Williams-Sonoma has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $177.93.

Remove Ads

Williams-Sonoma Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WSM traded down $1.27 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $169.03. The company's stock had a trading volume of 687,658 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,917,684. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $196.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $172.90. The stock has a market cap of $20.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.82. Williams-Sonoma has a 12 month low of $125.33 and a 12 month high of $219.98.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 19th. The specialty retailer reported $3.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.88 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $2.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.34 billion. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 51.56% and a net margin of 14.54%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.44 earnings per share.

Williams-Sonoma Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, May 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 17th will be paid a $0.66 dividend. This is an increase from Williams-Sonoma's previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. Williams-Sonoma's dividend payout ratio is currently 29.30%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Laura Alber sold 45,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 1,408 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $273,602.56. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,388 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,014,116.16. The trade was a 2.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Williams-Sonoma

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WSM. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 72.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,781,201 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $1,360,384,000 after purchasing an additional 3,695,837 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 108.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,329,125 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $825,588,000 after purchasing an additional 2,777,339 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 107.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 1,393,436 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 15.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,902,382 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $352,283,000 after purchasing an additional 249,389 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Williams-Sonoma in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $290,121,000. 99.29% of the stock is currently 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.