Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. Has $4.35 Million Holdings in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. $WSM

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. raised its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 652.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 27,531 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 23,874 shares during the quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A.’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $4,347,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in WSM. Mariner LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 11,225 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $2,079,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Hemington Wealth Management lifted its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 15.3% during the 1st quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 482 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $76,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Graypoint LLC lifted its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 4,791 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $757,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. First Bank & Trust lifted its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 5.1% during the 1st quarter. First Bank & Trust now owns 1,463 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $231,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lifted its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 3,159 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $499,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.29% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Laura Alber sold 30,000 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.18, for a total value of $5,045,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 966,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $162,617,782.86. This trade represents a 3.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 4,000 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.96, for a total value of $675,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 34,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,810,196.48. This trade represents a 10.42% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 68,000 shares of company stock valued at $11,279,580. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on WSM shares. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $165.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Gordon Haskett upgraded Williams-Sonoma from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $205.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $201.00 to $174.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 5th. KeyCorp upgraded Williams-Sonoma from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $181.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Zelman & Associates started coverage on Williams-Sonoma in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. They set an “underperform” rating for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Williams-Sonoma has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $180.18.

Williams-Sonoma Price Performance

Shares of Williams-Sonoma stock opened at $199.2320 on Thursday. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 1 year low of $125.33 and a 1 year high of $219.98. The firm has a market cap of $24.51 billion, a PE ratio of 22.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 1.47. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $178.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $173.02.

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

Williams-Sonoma Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, July 18th will be issued a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 18th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.90%.

Williams-Sonoma Company 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.