Aviva PLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Aviva PLC reduced its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 27.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 217,289 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 84,288 shares during the quarter. Aviva PLC owned approximately 0.18% of Williams-Sonoma worth $40,238,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WSM. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 108.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,329,125 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $825,588,000 after purchasing an additional 2,777,339 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Williams-Sonoma during the fourth quarter valued at $290,121,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Williams-Sonoma by 107.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,689,451 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $418,223,000 after acquiring an additional 1,393,436 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 19,941.2% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 495,619 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $91,779,000 after acquiring an additional 493,146 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 84.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,020,489 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $158,085,000 after acquiring an additional 467,407 shares during the last quarter. 99.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $195.00 to $185.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Williams-Sonoma from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $140.00 to $165.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $153.00 to $168.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Wedbush lowered their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $190.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $226.00 to $208.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams-Sonoma currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $176.93.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Up 2.2 %

NYSE WSM opened at $141.94 on Monday. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 52 week low of $125.33 and a 52 week high of $219.98. The company has a market capitalization of $17.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.76. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $188.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $174.12.

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

Williams-Sonoma Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, May 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. This is a boost from Williams-Sonoma’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.86%. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.30%.

Insider Activity

In other Williams-Sonoma news, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 1,408 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 46,388 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,014,116.16. The trade was a 2.95 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Laura Alber sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.76, for a total transaction of $9,349,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 944,666 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $196,263,808.16. This trade represents a 4.55 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 112,720 shares of company stock worth $20,616,369 over the last ninety days. 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.