Insider Selling: Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) CEO Sells 17,816 Shares of Stock

Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) CEO Marta Benson sold 17,816 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $308.19, for a total value of $5,490,713.04. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 68,597 shares in the company, valued at $21,140,909.43. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Marta Benson also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, March 27th, Marta Benson sold 2,184 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.98, for a total value of $685,732.32.

Williams-Sonoma Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE WSM opened at $309.40 on Friday. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 12 month low of $109.44 and a 12 month high of $319.78. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $251.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $203.46. The stock has a market cap of $19.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.70.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $5.44 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.06 by $0.38. The company had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.22 billion. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 55.15% and a net margin of 12.25%. Williams-Sonoma’s revenue was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.50 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 15.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 19th will be given a dividend of $1.13 per share. This is an increase from Williams-Sonoma’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 18th. This represents a $4.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.46%. Williams-Sonoma’s payout ratio is presently 24.71%.

Institutional Trading of Williams-Sonoma

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. MCF Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Williams-Sonoma during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its holdings in Williams-Sonoma by 863.6% during the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 212 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 190 shares in the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 129.3% in the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 188 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Denali Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Quarry LP boosted its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 229.8% during the 1st quarter. Quarry LP now owns 277 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on WSM. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $250.00 to $298.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $195.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $261.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $260.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $249.31.

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.