Bessemer Group Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 12.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,319 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after buying an additional 143 shares during the quarter. Bessemer Group Inc.’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $208,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WSM. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the 4th quarter valued at about $290,121,000. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the 4th quarter valued at about $87,148,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 64.1% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 989,700 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $183,273,000 after purchasing an additional 386,500 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 16,087.6% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 264,343 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $41,793,000 after purchasing an additional 262,710 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 15.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,902,382 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $352,283,000 after purchasing an additional 249,389 shares in the last quarter. 99.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Williams-Sonoma Price Performance

NYSE:WSM opened at $173.19 on Thursday. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 12-month low of $125.33 and a 12-month high of $219.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 1.45. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $161.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $175.66.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 22nd. The specialty retailer reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by $0.09. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 52.79% and a net margin of 14.35%. The business had revenue of $1.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.48 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 18th. Williams-Sonoma’s payout ratio is currently 29.90%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 17th. KeyCorp upgraded Williams-Sonoma from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $181.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $182.00 price objective on Williams-Sonoma and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Zelman & Associates assumed coverage on Williams-Sonoma in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. They set an “underperform” rating for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $195.00 to $185.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $176.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams-Sonoma

In other Williams-Sonoma news, CEO Laura Alber sold 30,000 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.33, for a total transaction of $4,929,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Karalyn Yearout sold 8,000 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total value of $1,212,240.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 16,505 shares in the company, valued at $2,501,002.65. The trade was a 32.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 50,915 shares of company stock valued at $8,203,186 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

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.