Round Hill Asset Management Sells 1,430 Shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Round Hill Asset Management decreased its position in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 14.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,357 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 1,430 shares during the quarter. Williams-Sonoma accounts for 1.1% of Round Hill Asset Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position. Round Hill Asset Management’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $1,548,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC now owns 236 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Williams-Sonoma in the 4th quarter worth $37,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new stake in Williams-Sonoma in the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Kozak & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Williams-Sonoma during the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, ORG Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the fourth quarter valued at about $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on WSM. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $195.00 to $170.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group upgraded Williams-Sonoma from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $140.00 to $165.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $195.00 to $185.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Wedbush lowered their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $190.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $176.93.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Performance

WSM stock opened at $141.94 on Monday. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $125.33 and a fifty-two week high of $219.98. The company has a market capitalization of $17.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.76. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $188.18 and its two-hundred 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, topping the consensus estimate of $2.88 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $2.46 billion for 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 for the quarter was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.44 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams-Sonoma Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Williams-Sonoma

In other Williams-Sonoma news, CEO Laura Alber sold 45,000 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.76, for a total transaction of $9,349,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 944,666 shares in the company, valued at approximately $196,263,808.16. The trade was a 4.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 36,312 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.79, for a total value of $6,020,166.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,388 shares in the company, valued at $7,690,666.52. This trade represents a 43.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 112,720 shares of company stock valued at $20,616,369 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

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.