Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) Shares Purchased by BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A.

BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. grew its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 130.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 304,821 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 172,709 shares during the quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A.’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $47,223,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WSM. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 84.5% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,020,489 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $158,085,000 after buying an additional 467,407 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 28.6% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 964,910 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $272,462,000 after purchasing an additional 214,669 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 823,692 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $232,613,000 after purchasing an additional 43,607 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 37.5% in the 1st quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 704,919 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $223,833,000 after purchasing an additional 192,432 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its holdings 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 worth $82,309,000 after purchasing an additional 461,361 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.29% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Williams-Sonoma

In other Williams-Sonoma news, CEO Laura Alber sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.27, for a total transaction of $5,810,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,030,956 shares in the company, valued at $149,766,978.12. This trade represents a 3.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Karalyn Smith sold 11,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,040,099. This trade represents a 42.29 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 91,100 shares of company stock valued at $12,525,126. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on WSM. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $140.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday. Telsey Advisory Group increased their price target on Williams-Sonoma from $165.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $136.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Three investment 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 data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $154.41.

Williams-Sonoma Trading Down 1.2 %

NYSE WSM opened at $172.95 on Friday. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 1-year low of $89.87 and a 1-year high of $181.42. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $142.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $144.55. The company has a market capitalization of $21.85 billion, a PE ratio of 20.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 1.76.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 22nd. The specialty retailer reported $1.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.81 billion. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 51.57% and a net margin of 14.29%. The business’s revenue was down 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.56 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS for the current year.

Williams-Sonoma Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th will be issued a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 18th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.32%. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.97%.

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.