Hamilton Point Investment Advisors LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Hamilton Point Investment Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 27.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 28,452 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 10,521 shares during the quarter. Hamilton Point Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $5,741,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 0.7% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,269,096 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $283,955,000 after buying an additional 15,078 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 1.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,456,161 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $226,287,000 after buying an additional 18,004 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 24.1% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,408,911 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $204,292,000 after buying an additional 273,424 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 35.4% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 815,713 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $93,742,000 after buying an additional 213,398 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 13.0% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 726,398 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $83,478,000 after buying an additional 83,343 shares in the last quarter. 99.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Williams-Sonoma

In related news, CEO Marta Benson sold 2,184 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $15,185,328.72. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Williams-Sonoma news, CEO Laura Alber sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.92, for a total transaction of $4,038,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 525,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $106,110,777.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Marta Benson sold 2,184 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.98, for a total value of $685,732.32. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,185,328.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 61,145 shares of company stock worth $16,220,619. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Performance

Williams-Sonoma stock traded down $0.25 during trading on Monday, hitting $288.60. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,090,330 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,041,174. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.69. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $261.99 and its 200 day moving average is $209.56. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 1-year low of $109.44 and a 1-year high of $319.78.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $5.44 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.06 by $0.38. The firm had revenue of $2.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.22 billion. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 55.15% and a net margin of 12.25%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.50 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 15.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 24th. Investors of record on Friday, April 19th will be paid a $1.13 dividend. This is a positive change from Williams-Sonoma’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. This represents a $4.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 18th. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.71%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Williams-Sonoma from $260.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Williams-Sonoma from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $154.00 to $263.00 in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a report on Friday, March 15th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $195.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Williams-Sonoma from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $249.31.

Williams-Sonoma Company 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.