Royce & Associates LP Sells 2,054 Shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Royce & Associates LP decreased its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 7.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 25,928 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 2,054 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $4,801,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Stifel Financial Corp increased its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 94.8% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 19,535 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $3,026,000 after buying an additional 9,509 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 27.2% in the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 38,512 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $5,966,000 after acquiring an additional 8,237 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 67.4% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 29,959 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $4,641,000 after acquiring an additional 12,061 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 118.7% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,110,320 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $326,931,000 after purchasing an additional 1,145,410 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pathstone Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 92.5% during the third quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 44,130 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $6,837,000 after purchasing an additional 21,200 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research report on Monday. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $170.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. TD Cowen increased their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $165.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Gordon Haskett upgraded Williams-Sonoma to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $194.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Williams-Sonoma presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $179.53.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Williams-Sonoma news, CEO Laura Alber sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 944,666 shares in the company, valued at $196,263,808.16. This trade represents a 4.55 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 1,408 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $273,602.56. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 46,388 shares in the company, valued at $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 corporate insiders.

Williams-Sonoma Price Performance

NYSE:WSM opened at $166.20 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.66, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.82. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 1 year low of $125.33 and a 1 year high of $219.98. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $198.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $171.88.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 19th. The specialty retailer reported $3.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.88 by $0.40. The business 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.44 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, May 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. This is a positive change from Williams-Sonoma’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.98%.

Williams-Sonoma 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.