State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Sells 4,585 Shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. $WSM

Key Points

• The State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D reduced its holdings in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. by 9.9%, now owning 41,680 shares valued at approximately $6.59 million.
• Insider selling included CFO Jeffrey Howie selling 4,000 shares and CEO Laura Alber selling 30,000 shares, indicating a decrease in their ownership stakes.
• Williams-Sonoma's most recent earnings surpassed expectations, reporting $1.85 EPS and revenue growth of 4.2% year-over-year.

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D decreased its holdings in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM - Free Report) by 9.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 41,680 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after selling 4,585 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D's holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $6,590,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in WSM. Mariner LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 0.4% in 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 in the last quarter. Hemington Wealth Management raised its position in Williams-Sonoma by 15.3% in the 1st quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 482 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $76,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Graypoint LLC lifted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. First Bank & Trust boosted its holdings in Williams-Sonoma by 5.1% during the 1st quarter. First Bank & Trust now owns 1,463 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $231,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Williams-Sonoma by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 3,159 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $499,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.29% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 4,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.96, for a total value of $675,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 34,388 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,810,196.48. This trade represents a 10.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Laura Alber sold 30,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.18, for a total value 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. The trade was a 3.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 68,000 shares of company stock worth $11,279,580 in the last three months. Insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on WSM. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $215.00 target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a report on Tuesday, June 17th. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $201.00 to $174.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Barclays set a $166.00 target price on Williams-Sonoma and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on Williams-Sonoma from $165.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $180.18.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Performance

Shares of Williams-Sonoma stock opened at $201.81 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.85, a P/E/G ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 1.47. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 52-week low of $125.33 and a 52-week high of $219.98. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $176.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $172.63.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM - Get Free Report) last posted 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 firm had revenue of $1.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.67 billion. Williams-Sonoma had a net margin of 14.35% and a return on equity of 52.79%. The company's revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.48 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 EPS 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. 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 1.3%. Williams-Sonoma's payout ratio is presently 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.

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