Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. Lowers Holdings in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. $WSM

Key Points

• Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. reduced its stake in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. by 9.7%, holding 18,155 shares worth about $2.87 million at the end of the last quarter.
• Recent analyst reports have resulted in varied price target adjustments for Williams-Sonoma, with a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $180.18.
• The company reported earnings of $1.85 per share, exceeding analyst expectations, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.66 to be paid on August 22nd.

Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. lessened its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM - Free Report) by 9.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 18,155 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after selling 1,954 shares during the period. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P.'s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $2,870,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Costello Asset Management INC bought a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. bought a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the first quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Sentry Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Wayfinding Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the first quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Institutional investors own 99.29% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on WSM. 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 note on Friday, May 23rd. Zelman & Associates began coverage on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. They issued an "underperform" rating for the company. KeyCorp raised shares of Williams-Sonoma from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $181.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Barclays set a $166.00 price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $215.00 price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research note on Tuesday, June 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Williams-Sonoma currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $180.18.

Williams-Sonoma Price Performance

NYSE WSM traded down $2.45 on Thursday, hitting $196.82. The stock had a trading volume of 1,093,126 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,911,258. The stock has a market cap of $24.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.29, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 business's fifty day moving average price is $178.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $173.02.

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

Williams-Sonoma Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 22nd. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 1.3%. Williams-Sonoma's payout ratio is 29.90%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, 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 transaction of $5,045,400.00. Following 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 4,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 directly owned 34,388 shares in the company, valued at $5,810,196.48. This trade represents a 10.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 68,000 shares of company stock worth $11,279,580 over the last three months. Corporate 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.