Man Group plc Increases Stock Holdings in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Man Group plc increased its holdings in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM - Free Report) by 18.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 87,808 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after purchasing an additional 13,982 shares during the period. Man Group plc owned 0.07% of Williams-Sonoma worth $16,260,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WSM. Abacus FCF Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 46.2% during the fourth quarter. Abacus FCF Advisors LLC now owns 23,950 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $4,435,000 after purchasing an additional 7,564 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 109,359 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $20,251,000 after buying an additional 5,337 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service grew its holdings in Williams-Sonoma by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 316,535 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $58,616,000 after buying an additional 3,200 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 132.0% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 3,905 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $723,000 after acquiring an additional 2,222 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 6.3% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 114,047 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $20,728,000 after acquiring an additional 6,757 shares during the last quarter. 99.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on WSM shares. Gordon Haskett raised shares of Williams-Sonoma to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Baird R W upgraded shares of Williams-Sonoma from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $195.00 to $185.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Williams-Sonoma from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $140.00 to $165.00 in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their price target 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $177.38.

Insider Transactions at Williams-Sonoma

In other Williams-Sonoma news, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.78, for a total transaction of $627,120.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 42,388 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,645,590.64. This trade represents a 8.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Laura Alber sold 30,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.78, for a total transaction of $4,973,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,018,374 shares of the company's stock, valued at $168,826,041.72. This represents a 2.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 80,635 shares of company stock valued at $13,236,175. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Williams-Sonoma Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of WSM stock traded down $0.86 on Friday, reaching $159.53. 591,297 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,038,186. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $156.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $176.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.61 billion, a PE ratio of 18.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.57. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 52 week low of $125.33 and a 52 week high of $219.98.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM - Get Free Report) last released 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. The business had revenue of $1.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.67 billion. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 51.56% and a net margin of 14.54%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.48 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, May 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 17th will be issued a $0.66 dividend. This is a positive change from Williams-Sonoma's previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.65%. Williams-Sonoma's payout ratio is presently 29.30%.

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.