Strs Ohio Invests $1.25 Million in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Strs Ohio bought a new position in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) 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

WSM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded Williams-Sonoma from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $155.00 to $270.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $146.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $260.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Loop Capital lifted their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $220.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Williams-Sonoma presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $248.06.

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) 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.