Hanseatic Management Services Inc. Acquires 1,459 Shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Hanseatic Management Services Inc. boosted its holdings in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 123.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,637 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,459 shares during the quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc.’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $409,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of WSM. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams-Sonoma in the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC boosted its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 520.0% in the first quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 93 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Clean Yield Group purchased a new stake in Williams-Sonoma during the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, HM Payson & Co. boosted its holdings in Williams-Sonoma by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 200 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.29% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams-Sonoma

In other news, EVP Karalyn Smith sold 11,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.66, for a total transaction of $1,494,726.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,040,099. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Williams-Sonoma news, EVP Karalyn Smith sold 11,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.66, for a total value of $1,494,726.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,150 shares in the company, valued at $2,040,099. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Laura Alber sold 40,000 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.27, for a total value of $5,810,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,030,956 shares in the company, valued at approximately $149,766,978.12. The trade was a 0.00 % 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 Stock Down 4.0 %

WSM opened at $129.47 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.55, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.76. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $141.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $145.06. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a twelve month low of $71.92 and a twelve month high of $174.26.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 22nd. The specialty retailer reported $1.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.81 billion. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 51.57% and a net margin of 14.29%. The company’s revenue was down 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.56 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 7.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams-Sonoma Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th will be given a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 18th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.76%. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.39%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on WSM. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Williams-Sonoma from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $148.00 to $156.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Wedbush lowered Williams-Sonoma from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $150.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $139.83.

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.