1,933 Shares in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) Acquired by NorthRock Partners LLC

NorthRock Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,933 shares of the specialty retailer's stock, valued at approximately $358,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 15.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,902,382 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $352,283,000 after purchasing an additional 249,389 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the fourth quarter valued at about $290,121,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 64.1% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 989,700 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $183,273,000 after purchasing an additional 386,500 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 645,402 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $119,516,000 after purchasing an additional 24,741 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its position in Williams-Sonoma by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 563,058 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $104,267,000 after acquiring an additional 31,754 shares in the last quarter. 99.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays upgraded shares of Williams-Sonoma from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $131.00 to $166.00 in a research report on Monday. Wedbush dropped their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $190.00 to $170.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Baird R W upgraded shares of Williams-Sonoma from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, 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 report on Thursday, March 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $177.81.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams-Sonoma

In related news, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 1,408 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $273,602.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 46,388 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,014,116.16. The trade was a 2.95% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Laura Alber sold 30,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were 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 directly owns 1,018,374 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $168,826,041.72. The trade was a 2.86% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 80,635 shares of company stock valued at $13,236,175 in the last 90 days. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Williams-Sonoma Trading Down 1.1%

NYSE:WSM traded down $1.92 on Tuesday, hitting $172.36. 2,096,380 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,056,173. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 1 year low of $125.33 and a 1 year high of $219.98. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $156.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $175.98. The company has a market cap of $21.19 billion, a PE ratio of 20.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.57.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM - Get Free Report) last released its 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. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 51.56% and a net margin of 14.54%. The company had revenue of $2.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.34 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $5.44 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, May 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. This is a boost from Williams-Sonoma's previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Williams-Sonoma's payout ratio is 29.30%.

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.