Mutual of America Capital Management LLC Sells 2,756 Shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Mutual of America Capital Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 5.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 46,859 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 2,756 shares during the quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $9,455,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WSM. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 863.6% during the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 212 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 129.3% in the third quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 188 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares during the period. Denali Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Williams-Sonoma in the third quarter valued at about $32,000. Quarry LP increased its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 229.8% in the first 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 period. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 820.0% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 230 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.29% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on WSM shares. Bank of America upped their target price 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. Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research note on Friday, March 15th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $260.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $261.00 to $295.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $330.00 price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Williams-Sonoma currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $249.31.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Marta Benson sold 17,816 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $308.19, for a total transaction of $5,490,713.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 68,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,140,909.43. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Marta Benson sold 17,816 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $308.19, for a total transaction of $5,490,713.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 68,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,140,909.43. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Laura Alber sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.74, for a total transaction of $5,674,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 505,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $143,433,123.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 61,145 shares of company stock worth $16,220,619. Company insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Williams-Sonoma Price Performance

WSM traded up $0.99 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $294.23. The stock had a trading volume of 88,677 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,032,366. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $258.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $207.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.70. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 1-year low of $109.44 and a 1-year high of $319.78.

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

Williams-Sonoma Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 19th will be issued a $1.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 18th. 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 1.54%. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.71%.

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.