Providence Wealth Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 1,010 Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Providence Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,010 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $201,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WSM. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in Williams-Sonoma in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 100.0% in the third quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC now owns 236 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Williams-Sonoma during the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, Kozak & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Williams-Sonoma in the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Williams-Sonoma from $170.00 to $224.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush dropped their price target on Williams-Sonoma from $190.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $123.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Gordon Haskett raised Williams-Sonoma to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Williams-Sonoma from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $140.00 to $165.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $177.93.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Williams-Sonoma news, CEO Laura Alber sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.76, for a total value of $9,349,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 944,666 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $196,263,808.16. The trade was a 4.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 1,408 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $273,602.56. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 46,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,014,116.16. This represents a 2.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Williams-Sonoma Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of Williams-Sonoma stock opened at $165.46 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $195.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $173.12. The company has a market cap of $20.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.57, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.82. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 12-month low of $125.33 and a 12-month high of $219.98.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The specialty retailer reported $3.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.88 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $2.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.34 billion. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 51.56% and a net margin of 14.54%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.44 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams-Sonoma Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, May 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 17th will be given a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.60%. This is a boost from Williams-Sonoma’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.30%.

Williams-Sonoma 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.