Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 215.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 328,579 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 224,397 shares during the quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $60,846,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its position in Williams-Sonoma by 47.4% during the fourth quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 6,460 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,196,000 after acquiring an additional 2,078 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 16,526 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $3,060,000 after buying an additional 629 shares during the last quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP raised its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 212,689 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $39,386,000 after buying an additional 10,393 shares during the last quarter. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Williams-Sonoma in the fourth quarter worth $246,000. Finally, Raiffeisen Bank International AG purchased a new position in shares of Williams-Sonoma in the fourth quarter worth $1,454,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.29% of the company’s stock.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE WSM opened at $174.13 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $156.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $175.98. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 52-week low of $125.33 and a 52-week high of $219.98. The firm has a market cap of $21.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.57.

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

Williams-Sonoma Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, May 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 17th will be paid a $0.66 dividend. This is an increase from Williams-Sonoma’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.30%.

Insider Transactions at Williams-Sonoma

In other news, EVP Karalyn Yearout sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,501,002.65. This trade represents a 32.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 4,000 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.78, for a total transaction of $627,120.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 42,388 shares in the company, valued at $6,645,590.64. This trade represents a 8.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 80,635 shares of company stock valued at $13,236,175. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WSM has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $153.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. KeyCorp raised shares of Williams-Sonoma from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $181.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, April 25th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $180.00 to $175.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of Williams-Sonoma from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $131.00 to $166.00 in a research note on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $177.81.

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.