Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Purchases 685 Shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. grew its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 33.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,745 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after buying an additional 685 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $554,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of WSM. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P boosted its holdings in Williams-Sonoma by 129.3% during the 3rd 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 purchased a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the third quarter valued at $32,000. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 863.6% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 212 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 190 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Williams-Sonoma by 820.0% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 230 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Williams-Sonoma in the 4th quarter valued at about $54,000. 99.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WSM. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Telsey Advisory Group lifted their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Loop Capital raised their price target on Williams-Sonoma from $220.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $260.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $250.00 to $298.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Four equities 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $249.31.

Insider Activity at Williams-Sonoma

In other Williams-Sonoma news, CEO Marta Benson sold 2,184 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.98, for a total transaction of $685,732.32. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 48,364 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,185,328.72. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Karalyn Smith sold 1,145 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.06, for a total value of $330,973.70. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,966 shares in the company, valued at $2,013,591.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Marta Benson sold 2,184 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.98, for a total transaction of $685,732.32. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 48,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,185,328.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 61,145 shares of company stock valued at $16,220,619 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Performance

Williams-Sonoma stock opened at $288.85 on Friday. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a one year low of $109.44 and a one year high of $319.78. The stock has a market cap of $18.52 billion, a PE ratio of 19.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.70. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $261.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $208.81.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last announced 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 firm had revenue of $2.28 billion during 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%. Williams-Sonoma’s revenue was down 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.50 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 15.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Increases Dividend

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

Williams-Sonoma 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.