Invesco Ltd. Sells 1,527,268 Shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Invesco Ltd. lowered its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM - Free Report) by 53.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,333,710 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after selling 1,527,268 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd. owned about 1.08% of Williams-Sonoma worth $210,860,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Mariner LLC raised its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 11,225 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $2,079,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Hemington Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 15.3% during the 1st quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 482 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Graypoint LLC raised its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. First Bank & Trust raised its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 5.1% during 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. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 6,969 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $1,291,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.29% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, 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 directly owned 34,388 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,810,196.48. The trade was a 10.42% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Laura Alber sold 30,000 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.18, for a total transaction of $5,045,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 966,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $162,617,782.86. This trade represents a 3.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 68,000 shares of company stock worth $11,279,580. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WSM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Williams-Sonoma from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $181.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. Zelman & Associates started coverage on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. They issued an "underperform" rating on the stock. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 17th. Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of Williams-Sonoma from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $205.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $165.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. One 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $178.41.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Performance

Shares of Williams-Sonoma stock opened at $210.23 on Thursday. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $174.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $173.43. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a twelve month low of $125.33 and a twelve month high of $219.98. The firm has a market cap of $25.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 1.47.

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, beating 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 business had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.48 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 18th will be given 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 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.

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