Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) Shares Bought by Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 7.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 95,464 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after buying an additional 6,861 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned 0.08% of Williams-Sonoma worth $18,396,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 94.8% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 19,535 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $3,026,000 after acquiring an additional 9,509 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 109,359 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $20,251,000 after purchasing an additional 5,337 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 48.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 527,740 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $97,875,000 after purchasing an additional 172,409 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service lifted its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 316,535 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $58,616,000 after purchasing an additional 3,200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TCW Group Inc. acquired a new position in Williams-Sonoma in the third quarter worth about $1,958,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.29% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group upgraded Williams-Sonoma from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $140.00 to $165.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $195.00 to $170.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $195.00 to $185.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $226.00 to $208.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Gordon Haskett raised shares of Williams-Sonoma to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams-Sonoma currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $177.93.

Williams-Sonoma Price Performance

Shares of Williams-Sonoma stock opened at $158.75 on Monday. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 1-year low of $125.33 and a 1-year high of $219.98. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $193.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $173.82. The company has a market capitalization of $19.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.78, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.82.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The specialty retailer reported $3.28 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.88 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $2.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.34 billion. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 51.56% and a net margin of 14.54%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.44 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, May 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 17th will be paid a $0.66 dividend. This is a positive change from Williams-Sonoma’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.30%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Laura Alber sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.78, for a total value of $4,973,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,018,374 shares in the company, valued at $168,826,041.72. This represents a 2.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 1,408 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $273,602.56. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,388 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,014,116.16. The trade was a 2.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 112,720 shares of company stock worth $20,616,369 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.50% 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.