57,750 Shares in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) Acquired by Cary Street Partners Financial LLC

Cary Street Partners Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 57,750 shares of the specialty retailer's stock, valued at approximately $10,694,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in WSM. Abacus FCF Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 46.2% during the fourth quarter. Abacus FCF Advisors LLC now owns 23,950 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $4,435,000 after purchasing an additional 7,564 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 109,359 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $20,251,000 after purchasing an additional 5,337 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 48.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 527,740 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $97,875,000 after purchasing an additional 172,409 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service grew its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 316,535 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $58,616,000 after purchasing an additional 3,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 132.0% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 3,905 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $723,000 after buying an additional 2,222 shares during the period. 99.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Williams-Sonoma news, EVP Karalyn Yearout sold 8,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total transaction of $1,212,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,505 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,501,002.65. This trade represents a 32.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 915 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.69, for a total value of $129,646.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,388 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,572,715.72. This trade represents a 1.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 80,635 shares of company stock worth $13,236,175. Insiders own 1.50% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on WSM shares. Robert W. Baird upgraded Williams-Sonoma from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $170.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of Williams-Sonoma to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group raised shares of Williams-Sonoma from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $140.00 to $165.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. KeyCorp raised shares of Williams-Sonoma from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $181.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $123.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Williams-Sonoma presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $175.94.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Up 2.1 %

WSM stock traded up $3.29 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $157.70. The company had a trading volume of 1,434,535 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,054,911. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $158.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $173.50. The firm has a market cap of $19.39 billion, a PE ratio of 18.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.57. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 1-year low of $125.33 and a 1-year high of $219.98.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.88 by $0.40. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 51.56% and a net margin of 14.54%. The business had revenue of $2.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.34 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.44 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 earnings per share for the current 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 issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. This is an increase from Williams-Sonoma's previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.67%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. Williams-Sonoma's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.30%.

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.