Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) Stock Holdings Lessened by Aptus Capital Advisors LLC

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC cut its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 4.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,653 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 68 shares during the quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $306,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WSM. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 15.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,902,382 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $352,283,000 after purchasing an additional 249,389 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Williams-Sonoma in the fourth quarter worth about $290,121,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 84.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,020,489 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $158,085,000 after acquiring an additional 467,407 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 64.1% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 989,700 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $183,273,000 after acquiring an additional 386,500 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 563,058 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $104,267,000 after acquiring an additional 31,754 shares in the last quarter. 99.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams-Sonoma

In other news, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.78, for a total value of $627,120.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 42,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,645,590.64. The trade was a 8.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Laura Alber sold 30,000 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.78, for a total value of $4,973,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,018,374 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $168,826,041.72. The trade was a 2.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 80,635 shares of company stock worth $13,236,175 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Up 2.1 %

Williams-Sonoma stock opened at $160.91 on Friday. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 12 month low of $125.33 and a 12 month high of $219.98. The stock has a market cap of $19.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.57. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $158.38 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $173.65.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 19th. The specialty retailer reported $3.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.88 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $2.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.34 billion. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 51.56% and a net margin of 14.54%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.44 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, May 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. This is an increase from Williams-Sonoma’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.30%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on WSM. UBS Group upgraded Williams-Sonoma from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $140.00 to $165.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Baird R W upgraded shares of Williams-Sonoma from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 7th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research note on Friday, April 4th. KeyCorp raised Williams-Sonoma from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $181.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of 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 issued 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, Williams-Sonoma presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $175.94.

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.