Cwm LLC Reduces Stock Position in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Cwm LLC lessened its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 5.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 32,680 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 1,916 shares during the quarter. Cwm LLC owned approximately 0.05% of Williams-Sonoma worth $6,594,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 30.5% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 231 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC boosted its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 27.8% in the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 299 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $60,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. JGP Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. JGP Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,725 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,155,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd boosted its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 3,413 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $530,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SkyView Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,382 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $370,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.29% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Laura Alber sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The stock was 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 directly owns 505,509 shares in the company, valued at approximately $143,433,123.66. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Laura Alber sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The stock was 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 directly owns 505,509 shares in the company, valued at approximately $143,433,123.66. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Karalyn Smith sold 1,145 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.06, for a total value of $330,973.70. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,013,591.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 41,145 shares of company stock worth $12,182,219 in the last three months. 1.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Performance

Williams-Sonoma stock opened at $285.02 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $271.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $215.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.31 billion, a PE ratio of 19.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.69. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a one year low of $109.44 and a one year high of $319.78.

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

Williams-Sonoma Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 19th will be issued a dividend of $1.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 18th. This is an increase from Williams-Sonoma’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. This represents a $4.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.59%. Williams-Sonoma’s payout ratio is currently 31.02%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on WSM shares. StockNews.com lowered Williams-Sonoma from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Telsey Advisory Group raised their price target on Williams-Sonoma from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research note on Friday, March 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Williams-Sonoma from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $154.00 to $263.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Williams-Sonoma from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $155.00 to $270.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $248.06.

Williams-Sonoma Company 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.