Portside Wealth Group LLC Has $356,000 Position in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Portside Wealth Group LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM - Free Report) by 43.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,253 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after selling 1,702 shares during the quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC's holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $356,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mariner LLC raised 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 acquiring an additional 49 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings 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 during the period. Bailard Inc. grew its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 4,091 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $758,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp lifted its holdings in Williams-Sonoma by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 6,969 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $1,291,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. 99.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on WSM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $153.00 to $168.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $195.00 to $170.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Williams-Sonoma from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $170.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $195.00 to $185.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. One 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $177.06.

Insider Activity at Williams-Sonoma

In other Williams-Sonoma news, CEO Laura Alber sold 30,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.78, for a total value 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 915 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.69, for a total value of $129,646.35. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,388 shares in the company, valued at $6,572,715.72. The trade was a 1.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 113,227 shares of company stock valued at $18,520,913 in the last quarter. Insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of WSM traded down $0.89 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $153.93. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,159,005 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,001,726. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a one year low of $125.33 and a one year high of $219.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.47. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $156.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $177.63.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 51.56% and a net margin of 14.54%. Williams-Sonoma's revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.48 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams-Sonoma Dividend Announcement

The business 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. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 18th. Williams-Sonoma's dividend payout ratio is 29.90%.

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.