Alaska Permanent Fund Corp Reduces Stock Position in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Alaska Permanent Fund Corp decreased its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 16.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,500 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 3,100 shares during the quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $3,128,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. AE Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Williams-Sonoma during the third quarter worth about $275,000. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 38.8% in the third quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 322 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 61.2% in the third quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 627 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $95,000 after acquiring an additional 238 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma in the third quarter worth approximately $153,000. Finally, Impact Partnership Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 103,900.0% during the third quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC now owns 1,040 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $162,000 after purchasing an additional 1,039 shares in the last quarter. 99.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on WSM. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Williams-Sonoma from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $154.00 to $263.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $261.00 to $295.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $200.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Loop Capital raised their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $220.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Williams-Sonoma has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $248.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Laura Alber sold 20,000 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction 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 owns 505,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $143,433,123.66. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Laura Alber sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.74, for a total value of $5,674,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 505,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $143,433,123.66. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Marta Benson sold 17,816 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $308.19, for a total transaction of $5,490,713.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 68,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,140,909.43. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 41,145 shares of company stock valued at $12,182,219 in the last quarter. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Performance

NYSE:WSM traded up $0.44 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $285.51. The stock had a trading volume of 741,811 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,020,715. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $271.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $215.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.56, a PEG ratio of 2.35 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $5.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $2.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.22 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $5.50 EPS. Williams-Sonoma’s quarterly revenue was down 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 15.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams-Sonoma Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 19th will be issued a $1.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 1.58%. Williams-Sonoma’s payout ratio is 31.02%.

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.