Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Purchases 11,895 Shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 408.3% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 14,808 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,895 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $2,354,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Redwood Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Williams-Sonoma in the 4th quarter valued at $1,424,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Williams-Sonoma by 26.4% in the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 44,398 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $7,019,000 after acquiring an additional 9,266 shares during the last quarter. Abacus FCF Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Williams-Sonoma by 46.2% in the 4th quarter. Abacus FCF Advisors LLC now owns 23,950 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $4,435,000 after acquiring an additional 7,564 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in Williams-Sonoma by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 109,359 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $20,251,000 after acquiring an additional 5,337 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings 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 last quarter. 99.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WSM has been the topic of a number of research reports. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Baird R W upgraded shares of Williams-Sonoma from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 7th. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Williams-Sonoma from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $181.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Williams-Sonoma from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $170.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Wedbush reduced their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $190.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $176.75.

Williams-Sonoma Trading Down 0.1%

WSM stock opened at $173.06 on Friday. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 12 month low of $125.33 and a 12 month high of $219.98. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $161.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $175.51. The stock has a market cap of $21.29 billion, a PE ratio of 19.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 1.45.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 22nd. The specialty retailer reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by $0.09. Williams-Sonoma had a net margin of 14.35% and a return on equity of 52.79%. The firm had revenue of $1.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.48 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 EPS for the current year.

Williams-Sonoma Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, July 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 18th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.53%. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.90%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams-Sonoma

In other Williams-Sonoma news, CEO Laura Alber sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.33, for a total value of $4,929,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 996,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $163,825,013.91. The trade was a 2.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.96, for a total transaction of $675,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 34,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,810,196.48. This trade represents a 10.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 50,915 shares of company stock valued at $8,203,186 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

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.