Klingman & Associates LLC Takes $260,000 Position in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Klingman & Associates LLC bought a new stake in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 1,289 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $260,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sapient Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Williams-Sonoma during the fourth quarter worth approximately $220,000. Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in Williams-Sonoma by 53.9% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 11,393 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $2,299,000 after buying an additional 3,988 shares in the last quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. grew its position in Williams-Sonoma by 16.0% during the fourth quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,223 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,861,000 after buying an additional 1,269 shares in the last quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc grew its position in Williams-Sonoma by 60.8% during the fourth quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc now owns 6,650 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,342,000 after buying an additional 2,514 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WESPAC Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Williams-Sonoma during the fourth quarter worth approximately $552,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.29% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Laura Alber sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.92, for a total transaction of $4,038,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 525,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $106,110,777.28. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Laura Alber sold 20,000 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.92, for a total value of $4,038,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 525,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $106,110,777.28. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Karalyn Smith sold 1,145 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.06, for a total value of $330,973.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,013,591.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 61,145 shares of company stock valued at $16,220,619 in the last three months. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE:WSM opened at $288.85 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $18.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.70. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 12-month low of $109.44 and a 12-month high of $319.78. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $261.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $208.81.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $5.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.06 by $0.38. The business had revenue of $2.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 for the quarter was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.50 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 15.37 EPS for the current year.

Williams-Sonoma Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 24th. Investors of record on Friday, April 19th will be given a dividend of $1.13 per share. This is a positive change from Williams-Sonoma’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. This represents a $4.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 18th. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.71%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WSM. StockNews.com downgraded Williams-Sonoma from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $200.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a report on Friday, March 15th. Bank of America raised their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $250.00 to $298.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, TD Cowen raised their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $260.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average 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.