Hartford Investment Management Co. Purchases Shares of 7,505 Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Key Points

• Hartford Investment Management Co. acquired 7,505 shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc., valued at approximately $1,187,000, as detailed in their recent SEC filing.
• Analyst upgrades include a boost from a "hold" to a "buy" rating by Gordon Haskett, while several firms have adjusted price targets, now ranging from $160.00 to $205.00.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.66 per share, which represents an annualized yield of 1.4% with a payout ratio of approximately 29.90%.

Hartford Investment Management Co. purchased a new stake in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 7,505 shares of the specialty retailer's stock, valued at approximately $1,187,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. EFG Asset Management Americas Corp. bought a new position in Williams-Sonoma in the first quarter valued at approximately $766,000. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 2.6% in the first quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 3,159 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $499,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 655.6% in the first quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 340 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 295 shares during the last quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 9.2% in the first quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 2,110 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $334,000 after buying an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arkadios Wealth Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma in the first quarter valued at approximately $309,000. 99.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on WSM. Gordon Haskett raised Williams-Sonoma from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $205.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 17th. KeyCorp raised 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. UBS Group cut their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $165.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Barclays set a $166.00 price objective on Williams-Sonoma and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $178.41.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 4,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $5,810,196.48. The trade was a 10.42% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Laura Alber sold 30,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.18, for a total value of $5,045,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 966,927 shares in the company, valued at $162,617,782.86. This represents a 3.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 68,000 shares of company stock worth $11,279,580 in the last 90 days. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Performance

Shares of WSM opened at $187.68 on Monday. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 52-week low of $125.33 and a 52-week high of $219.98. The business's fifty day moving average is $167.57 and its 200-day moving average is $173.26. The firm has a market cap of $23.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.25, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.47.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 22nd. The specialty retailer reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.48 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, July 18th will be given a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 18th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. 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.

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