Cetera Investment Advisers Buys 1,846 Shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 13.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,080 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,846 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $2,384,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Sentry Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Williams-Sonoma during the first quarter worth about $32,000. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. bought a new position in Williams-Sonoma during the first quarter worth about $33,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC bought a new position in Williams-Sonoma during the first quarter worth about $35,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Williams-Sonoma during the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Williams-Sonoma by 123.6% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 246 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. 99.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Williams-Sonoma

In related news, CEO Laura Alber sold 30,000 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.33, for a total transaction of $4,929,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 996,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $163,825,013.91. This trade represents a 2.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 4,000 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.96, for a total value of $675,840.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 34,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,810,196.48. The trade was a 10.42% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 68,000 shares of company stock valued at $11,279,580 in the last quarter. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WSM has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Zelman & Associates initiated coverage on Williams-Sonoma in a report on Thursday, May 15th. They set an “underperform” rating on the stock. UBS Group dropped their price target on Williams-Sonoma from $165.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. KeyCorp raised Williams-Sonoma from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $181.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Gordon Haskett raised Williams-Sonoma from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $205.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $215.00 price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research note on Tuesday, June 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams-Sonoma has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $178.41.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Performance

NYSE:WSM opened at $200.95 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $169.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $173.47. The company has a market cap of $24.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.76, a P/E/G ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 1.47. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 52-week low of $125.33 and a 52-week high of $219.98.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 22nd. The specialty retailer reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.67 billion. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 52.79% and a net margin of 14.35%. Williams-Sonoma’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.48 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, July 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 18th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.90%.

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.