Strs Ohio bought a new position in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM – Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 6,194 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $1,249,000.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sapient Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the fourth quarter worth $220,000. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the third quarter worth $4,102,000. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC lifted its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 11.5% during the third quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 20,711 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $3,218,000 after purchasing an additional 2,128 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the fourth quarter worth $3,632,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 1.3% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,456,161 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $226,287,000 after purchasing an additional 18,004 shares during the last quarter. 99.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Insider Activity at Williams-Sonoma
In related news, CEO Laura Alber sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.74, for a total value of $5,674,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 505,509 shares in the company, valued at $143,433,123.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, CEO Laura Alber sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.74, for a total value of $5,674,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 505,509 shares in the company, valued at $143,433,123.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Marta Benson sold 2,184 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.98, for a total value of $685,732.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 41,145 shares of company stock worth $12,182,219 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
View Our Latest Analysis on WSM
Williams-Sonoma Stock Performance
Shares of WSM stock opened at $280.13 on Tuesday. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $109.44 and a fifty-two week high of $319.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.23, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.69. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $270.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $215.02.
Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $5.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.06 by $0.38. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 55.15% and a net margin of 12.25%. The business had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $5.50 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 15.37 earnings per share for the current year.
Williams-Sonoma Increases Dividend
The company 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 $1.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 18th. This represents a $4.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.61%. This is a positive change from Williams-Sonoma’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.02%.
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.
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