Blair William & Co. IL Lowers Holdings in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Blair William & Co. IL lowered its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM - Free Report) by 5.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,272 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after selling 1,356 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL's holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $3,837,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in WSM. Mariner LLC raised its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 11,225 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $2,079,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the period. Graypoint LLC grew its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 4,791 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $757,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the period. First Bank & Trust increased its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. First Bank & Trust now owns 1,463 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $231,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp raised its holdings in Williams-Sonoma by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 6,969 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $1,291,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the period. Finally, Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management raised its holdings in Williams-Sonoma by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 3,159 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $499,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the period. 99.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams-Sonoma

In other Williams-Sonoma news, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 4,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.96, for a total value of $675,840.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 34,388 shares in the company, valued at $5,810,196.48. The trade was a 10.42% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Laura Alber sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.33, for a total transaction of $4,929,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 996,927 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $163,825,013.91. This trade represents a 2.92% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 68,000 shares of company stock worth $11,279,580. Insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the company. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $182.00 target price on Williams-Sonoma and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $165.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Barclays set a $166.00 price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $215.00 target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research report on Tuesday, June 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Williams-Sonoma has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $178.41.

Williams-Sonoma Trading Down 0.6%

WSM opened at $199.53 on Friday. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a twelve month low of $125.33 and a twelve month high of $219.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.54 billion, a PE ratio of 22.60, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 1.47. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $170.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $173.64.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 22nd. The specialty retailer reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.76 by $0.09. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 52.79% and a net margin of 14.35%. The business had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.48 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 18th. Williams-Sonoma's payout ratio is currently 29.90%.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding WSM? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.