Curat Global LLC Acquires New Holdings in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Curat Global LLC purchased a new stake in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 9,000 shares of the specialty retailer's stock, valued at approximately $1,423,000. Williams-Sonoma comprises 1.7% of Curat Global LLC's holdings, making the stock its 9th largest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sentry Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Williams-Sonoma in the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the 4th quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, Tobam bought a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the 4th quarter worth about $55,000. 99.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on WSM. Telsey Advisory Group cut their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $220.00 to $215.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 19th. Royal Bank of Canada set a $182.00 price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Baird R W raised shares of Williams-Sonoma from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 7th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $180.00 to $175.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, 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 report on Friday, April 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $177.06.

Williams-Sonoma Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of WSM traded down $0.19 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $157.79. 1,291,913 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,011,426. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $155.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $178.27. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 52 week low of $125.33 and a 52 week high of $219.98. The company has a market cap of $19.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.66, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.47.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 22nd. The specialty retailer reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.76 by $0.09. Williams-Sonoma had a net margin of 14.54% and a return on equity of 51.56%. The company had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.48 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, May 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 17th were issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.67%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 17th. This is an increase from Williams-Sonoma's previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Williams-Sonoma's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.90%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 36,312 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.79, for a total transaction of $6,020,166.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 46,388 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,690,666.52. This trade represents a 43.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Laura Alber sold 30,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.33, for a total transaction of $4,929,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 996,927 shares of the company's stock, valued at $163,825,013.91. This trade represents a 2.92% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 113,227 shares of company stock worth $18,520,913. Insiders own 1.10% 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.