Voss Capital LLC Sells 45,700 Shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Voss Capital LLC lessened its position in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 80.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 11,000 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 45,700 shares during the period. Voss Capital LLC’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $2,220,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Quent Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 27.8% in the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 299 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. JGP Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. JGP Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,725 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,155,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the period. WINTON GROUP Ltd grew its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 3,413 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $530,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the period. Cooper Financial Group grew its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 2,643 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $411,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the period. Finally, SkyView Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,382 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $370,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.29% of the company’s stock.

Williams-Sonoma Price Performance

WSM stock traded down $0.25 during trading on Monday, reaching $288.60. 1,090,330 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,041,174. The company has a 50-day moving average of $261.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $209.56. The company has a market capitalization of $18.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.69. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a twelve month low of $109.44 and a twelve month high of $319.78.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $5.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.06 by $0.38. Williams-Sonoma had a net margin of 12.25% and a return on equity of 55.15%. The firm had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.50 EPS. The company’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 EPS for the current year.

Williams-Sonoma Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $4.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.57%. This is a positive change from Williams-Sonoma’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 18th. Williams-Sonoma’s payout ratio is presently 24.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Williams-Sonoma news, CEO Marta Benson sold 17,816 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $308.19, for a total transaction of $5,490,713.04. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 68,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,140,909.43. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Karalyn Smith sold 1,145 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,013,591.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Marta Benson sold 17,816 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $308.19, for a total transaction of $5,490,713.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 68,597 shares in the company, valued at $21,140,909.43. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 61,145 shares of company stock valued at $16,220,619 in the last ninety days. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $250.00 to $298.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a report on Friday, March 15th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $260.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Williams-Sonoma from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $154.00 to $263.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, Loop Capital lifted their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $220.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Williams-Sonoma currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $249.31.

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.