Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) Position Lessened by Transatlantique Private Wealth LLC

Transatlantique Private Wealth LLC reduced its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 3.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,525 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 370 shares during the quarter. Transatlantique Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $1,764,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WSM. Abacus FCF Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 46.2% in the 4th quarter. Abacus FCF Advisors LLC now owns 23,950 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $4,435,000 after acquiring an additional 7,564 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 109,359 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $20,251,000 after buying an additional 5,337 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 48.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 527,740 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $97,875,000 after buying an additional 172,409 shares during the period. National Pension Service grew its holdings in Williams-Sonoma by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 316,535 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $58,616,000 after buying an additional 3,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its position in Williams-Sonoma by 132.0% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 3,905 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $723,000 after acquiring an additional 2,222 shares during the period. 99.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Williams-Sonoma Price Performance

NYSE WSM opened at $139.04 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $172.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $173.24. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 52-week low of $125.33 and a 52-week high of $219.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.76.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The specialty retailer reported $3.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.88 by $0.40. Williams-Sonoma had a net margin of 14.54% and a return on equity of 51.56%. The company had revenue of $2.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.34 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.44 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 EPS for the current year.

Williams-Sonoma Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, May 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. 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 dividend yield of 1.90%. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.30%.

Insider Activity

In other Williams-Sonoma news, EVP Karalyn Yearout sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total transaction of $1,212,240.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,501,002.65. This represents a 32.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 1,408 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $273,602.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,014,116.16. This represents a 2.95 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 120,720 shares of company stock worth $21,828,609 in the last three months. 1.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on WSM. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Williams-Sonoma from $195.00 to $170.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $180.00 to $175.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of Williams-Sonoma to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays boosted their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $123.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Williams-Sonoma from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $170.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Williams-Sonoma has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $178.93.

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.