First Western Trust Bank Acquires 1,018 Shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

First Western Trust Bank raised its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 141.0% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,740 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,018 shares during the period. First Western Trust Bank’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $270,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WSM. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 84.5% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,020,489 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $158,085,000 after purchasing an additional 467,407 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 659.6% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 531,304 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $82,309,000 after purchasing an additional 461,361 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 536.3% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 383,700 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $108,345,000 after buying an additional 323,400 shares during the period. HS Management Partners LLC lifted its position in Williams-Sonoma by 121.0% during the 3rd quarter. HS Management Partners LLC now owns 401,105 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $62,139,000 after acquiring an additional 219,591 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 28.6% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 964,910 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $272,462,000 after purchasing an additional 214,669 shares during the last quarter. 99.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Williams-Sonoma

In other news, CEO Laura Alber sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.27, for a total value of $5,810,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,030,956 shares in the company, valued at $149,766,978.12. This represents a 3.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Karalyn Smith sold 11,100 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.66, for a total value of $1,494,726.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,040,099. The trade was a 42.29 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WSM has been the topic of several research reports. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a report on Friday. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $140.00 to $134.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $232.00 to $116.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Williams-Sonoma has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $139.47.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Performance

NYSE:WSM opened at $130.65 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $141.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $144.50. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $80.49 and a fifty-two week high of $174.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.51 billion, a PE ratio of 15.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.76.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 22nd. The specialty retailer reported $1.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.13. Williams-Sonoma had a net margin of 14.29% and a return on equity of 51.57%. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.81 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.56 EPS. Williams-Sonoma’s quarterly revenue was down 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 7.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams-Sonoma Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th will be given a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 18th. Williams-Sonoma’s payout ratio is 27.39%.

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.