Modera Wealth Management LLC Trims Position in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Key Points

• Modera Wealth Management LLC reduced its stock position in Williams-Sonoma by 6.1%, owning approximately 0.17% of the company after selling 13,556 shares.
• Williams-Sonoma CFO and CEO both sold significant shares in the company, with the CFO selling 4,000 shares and the CEO selling 30,000 shares, reflecting a 2.92% decrease in CEO ownership.
• Despite recent stock sales by insiders, Williams-Sonoma has a current market cap of $23.02 billion and reported a net margin of 14.35% in its latest earnings results.

Modera Wealth Management LLC trimmed its position in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM - Free Report) by 6.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 208,936 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after selling 13,556 shares during the period. Modera Wealth Management LLC owned approximately 0.17% of Williams-Sonoma worth $33,033,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WSM. Mariner LLC increased its holdings in Williams-Sonoma by 0.4% in 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 during the last quarter. Graypoint LLC increased its holdings in Williams-Sonoma by 1.5% in 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 during the last quarter. First Bank & Trust increased its holdings in Williams-Sonoma by 5.1% in 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 during the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp increased its holdings in Williams-Sonoma by 1.1% in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH increased its holdings in Williams-Sonoma by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 1,396 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $260,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. 99.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.96, for a total value of $675,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Laura Alber sold 30,000 shares of the company's 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 966,927 shares of the company's stock, valued at $162,617,782.86. The trade was a 3.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 68,000 shares of company stock valued at $11,279,580. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Up 0.3%

WSM traded up $0.63 on Friday, reaching $187.68. The company had a trading volume of 1,407,308 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,114,524. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 1 year low of $125.33 and a 1 year high of $219.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.08 billion, a PE ratio of 21.25, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.47. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $166.98 and a 200-day moving average price of $173.65.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM - Get Free Report) last announced 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 14.35% and a return on equity of 52.79%. The firm had revenue of $1.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.48 earnings per share. Williams-Sonoma's quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, July 18th will be given a $0.66 dividend. 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 1.4%. Williams-Sonoma's payout ratio is 29.90%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on WSM shares. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $201.00 to $174.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $215.00 price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research note on Tuesday, June 17th. Baird R W upgraded shares of Williams-Sonoma from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $182.00 price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of Williams-Sonoma from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $205.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $178.41.

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.