SG Americas Securities LLC Boosts Stake in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. $WSM

SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 60.0% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 34,223 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,840 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $6,240,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WSM. Center For Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. Center For Asset Management LLC now owns 3,589 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $655,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. Evexia Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 10.5% in the first quarter. Evexia Wealth LLC now owns 47,722 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $9,235,000 after purchasing an additional 4,520 shares in the last quarter. E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 9.0% in the first quarter. E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB now owns 6,036 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,101,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Westmount Partners LLC increased its position in Williams-Sonoma by 4.3% in the first quarter. Westmount Partners LLC now owns 6,598 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,203,000 after purchasing an additional 269 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. increased its position in Williams-Sonoma by 15.3% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 6,469 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,155,000 after purchasing an additional 860 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on WSM shares. Argus set a $230.00 price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $208.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $235.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. Barclays set a $190.00 price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $190.00 price target on Williams-Sonoma and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $211.47.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Down 0.1%

WSM stock opened at $239.02 on Monday. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a twelve month low of $161.63 and a twelve month high of $244.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.51. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $200.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $197.35.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 21st. The specialty retailer reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.80 by $0.13. Williams-Sonoma had a net margin of 13.81% and a return on equity of 53.29%. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.80 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.85 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 9.39 EPS for the current year.

Williams-Sonoma Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 17th will be paid a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 17th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.17%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Williams-Sonoma news, CEO Laura Alber sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $3,000,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 923,524 shares in the company, valued at $184,704,800. The trade was a 1.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Karalyn Yearout sold 1,112 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.49, for a total value of $254,080.88. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 21,717 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,962,117.33. This represents a 4.87% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 55,320 shares of company stock valued at $10,516,069 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

About Williams-Sonoma

Williams?Sonoma, Inc is a specialty retailer focused on the home and culinary markets, best known for premium cookware, kitchen tools and home furnishings. The company traces its roots to a single cookware store founded by Chuck Williams in 1956 in Sonoma, California, and has evolved into a multi?brand home furnishings and housewares business. Its merchandise mix spans cookware and kitchen electrics, tabletop and food prep items, furniture, bedding, lighting and decorative accessories designed for both everyday use and higher?end interiors.

The company operates a portfolio of consumer brands that target distinct segments of the home market.