Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) Stock Position Increased by Caprock Group LLC

Caprock Group LLC boosted its position in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 76.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,703 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,760 shares during the quarter. Caprock Group LLC’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $1,348,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WSM. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 84.5% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,020,489 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $158,085,000 after buying an additional 467,407 shares during the period. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 659.6% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 531,304 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $82,309,000 after acquiring an additional 461,361 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 536.3% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 383,700 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $108,345,000 after acquiring an additional 323,400 shares during the period. HS Management Partners LLC grew its position in Williams-Sonoma by 121.0% during the third quarter. HS Management Partners LLC now owns 401,105 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $62,139,000 after purchasing an additional 219,591 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in Williams-Sonoma by 28.6% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 964,910 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $272,462,000 after purchasing an additional 214,669 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on WSM. Wedbush downgraded shares of Williams-Sonoma from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $150.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research report on Friday, November 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $136.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $158.00 to $145.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 19th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Williams-Sonoma has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $138.84.

Williams-Sonoma Price Performance

NYSE:WSM opened at $175.04 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $22.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.03, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.76. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a one year low of $88.63 and a one year high of $181.42. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $141.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $144.33.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 22nd. The specialty retailer reported $1.74 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.13. Williams-Sonoma had a net margin of 14.29% and a return on equity of 51.57%. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.81 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.56 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 7.98 EPS for the current year.

Williams-Sonoma Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th will be paid a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 18th. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio is 27.39%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Laura Alber sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.27, for a total value of $5,810,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,030,956 shares in the company, valued at approximately $149,766,978.12. This represents a 3.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Karalyn Smith sold 11,100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.66, for a total transaction of $1,494,726.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,040,099. This represents a 42.29 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 91,100 shares of company stock worth $12,525,126. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.