1,005 Shares in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) Acquired by Strategic Blueprint LLC

Strategic Blueprint LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,005 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $203,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WSM. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Williams-Sonoma in the 4th quarter worth $55,499,000. Holocene Advisors LP bought a new position in shares of Williams-Sonoma in the 2nd quarter worth $56,497,000. Steadfast Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Williams-Sonoma in the 1st quarter worth $50,715,000. First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 24.1% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,408,911 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $204,292,000 after buying an additional 273,424 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams-Sonoma in the 1st quarter worth $29,782,000. Institutional investors own 99.29% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on WSM shares. Loop Capital increased their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $220.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Bank of America upped 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. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective 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. Telsey Advisory Group upped their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $146.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $249.31.

Williams-Sonoma Trading Down 1.9 %

NYSE:WSM opened at $288.85 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $261.99 and a 200-day moving average price of $208.81. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 12 month low of $109.44 and a 12 month high of $319.78. The stock has a market cap of $18.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.70.

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

Williams-Sonoma Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.