Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC Acquires New Position in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Key Points

• Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in Williams-Sonoma, Inc., purchasing 1,486 shares valued at approximately $234,000.
• Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 21.8%, now owning over 15.6 million shares worth approximately $2.47 billion.
• Williams-Sonoma announced a quarterly dividend of $0.66 per share, representing an annualized dividend yield of 1.3%.

Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 1,486 shares of the specialty retailer's stock, valued at approximately $234,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in WSM. Sentry Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Williams-Sonoma in the first quarter worth $32,000. Costello Asset Management INC acquired a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma in the first quarter worth $32,000. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma in the first quarter worth $33,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma in the first quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma in the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.29% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Williams-Sonoma

In other Williams-Sonoma news, CEO Laura Alber sold 30,000 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $163,825,013.91. This trade represents a 2.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 4,000 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.96, for a total transaction of $675,840.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 34,388 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,810,196.48. This represents a 10.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 68,000 shares of company stock worth $11,279,580 over the last ninety days. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WSM has been the topic of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $201.00 to $174.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of Williams-Sonoma from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $205.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $165.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $212.00 price target (up previously from $182.00) on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $180.18.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WSM traded down $4.50 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $205.70. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,340,400 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,294,441. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $175.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $173.38. The company has a market cap of $25.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 1.47. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 12-month low of $125.33 and a 12-month high of $219.98.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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 net margin of 14.35% and a return on equity of 52.79%. The firm had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.67 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.48 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Dividend Announcement

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

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.