New Mexico Educational Retirement Board Has $885,000 Stock Position in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board lowered its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM - Free Report) by 78.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,600 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after selling 20,400 shares during the period. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board's holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $885,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mariner LLC raised its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 0.4% during the fourth 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 period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 15.5% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 396 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 2,575 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $477,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. First Bank & Trust increased its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 5.1% during the first quarter. First Bank & Trust now owns 1,463 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $231,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 6,969 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $1,291,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.29% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on WSM. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $215.00 target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research report on Tuesday, June 17th. Baird R W raised shares of Williams-Sonoma from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Wedbush decreased their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $190.00 to $170.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $165.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams-Sonoma currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $176.75.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Down 0.9%

Williams-Sonoma stock opened at $174.97 on Friday. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a twelve month low of $125.33 and a twelve month high of $219.98. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $163.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $174.93. The company has a market capitalization of $21.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.45.

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, 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 the consensus estimate of $1.67 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.48 EPS. The company's revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Dividend Announcement

The business 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.51%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 18th. Williams-Sonoma's dividend payout ratio is currently 29.90%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Laura Alber sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.33, for a total transaction of $4,929,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 996,927 shares of the company's stock, valued at $163,825,013.91. This represents a 2.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owned 34,388 shares in the company, valued at $5,810,196.48. The trade was a 10.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 42,915 shares of company stock valued at $6,990,946 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

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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