Maverick Capital Ltd. Buys New Stake in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. $WSM

Maverick Capital Ltd. acquired a new stake in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 19,394 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $3,168,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in WSM. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 166.2% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 17,300 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $2,826,000 after buying an additional 10,800 shares in the last quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Williams-Sonoma during the second quarter worth approximately $1,748,000. Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP purchased a new stake in Williams-Sonoma in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,163,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its holdings in Williams-Sonoma by 9.0% in the 2nd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 127,777 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $20,875,000 after acquiring an additional 10,506 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 101.2% during the 2nd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 65,642 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $10,716,000 after purchasing an additional 33,013 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.29% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on WSM shares. Argus set a $212.00 price objective on Williams-Sonoma in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Williams-Sonoma from $168.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 28th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research note on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $179.00 to $203.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 28th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $206.00 price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Williams-Sonoma presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.00.

Williams-Sonoma Price Performance

NYSE WSM opened at $189.04 on Friday. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 1-year low of $130.07 and a 1-year high of $219.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.55. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $187.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $183.94.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 19th. The specialty retailer reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.86 billion. Williams-Sonoma had a net margin of 14.30% and a return on equity of 53.10%. Williams-Sonoma’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.96 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 21st. Investors of record on Friday, October 17th were given a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 17th. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio is 29.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Williams-Sonoma news, EVP Karalyn Yearout sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.79, for a total transaction of $695,765.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 14,003 shares in the company, valued at $2,783,656.37. The trade was a 20.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 3,153 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.84, for a total value of $626,942.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 34,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,787,999.92. This trade represents a 8.46% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 126,653 shares of company stock valued at $24,724,440. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

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.