Rhumbline Advisers Has $55.14 Million Stock Position in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Rhumbline Advisers reduced its position in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM - Free Report) by 24.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 348,754 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after selling 115,045 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers owned about 0.28% of Williams-Sonoma worth $55,138,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Redwood Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,424,000. Abacus FCF Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 46.2% during the fourth quarter. Abacus FCF Advisors LLC now owns 23,950 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $4,435,000 after purchasing an additional 7,564 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 109,359 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $20,251,000 after purchasing an additional 5,337 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service boosted its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 316,535 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $58,616,000 after purchasing an additional 3,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 132.0% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 3,905 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $723,000 after purchasing an additional 2,222 shares during the last quarter. 99.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WSM has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $195.00 to $185.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of Williams-Sonoma to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $165.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Robert W. Baird raised 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, Barclays set a $166.00 target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $177.06.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Performance

Shares of WSM stock traded down $1.44 on Wednesday, hitting $160.10. The company had a trading volume of 1,524,201 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,017,396. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a twelve month low of $125.33 and a twelve month high of $219.98. The firm has a market cap of $19.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.57. The stock's 50-day moving average is $155.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $178.09.

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 14.54% and a return on equity of 51.56%. The business had revenue of $1.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.67 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.48 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 EPS for the current year.

Williams-Sonoma Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, May 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 17th were issued a $0.66 dividend. This is a positive change from Williams-Sonoma's previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.65%. Williams-Sonoma's payout ratio is presently 29.90%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams-Sonoma

In other Williams-Sonoma news, CEO Laura Alber sold 30,000 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,018,374 shares in the company, valued at approximately $168,826,041.72. The trade was a 2.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 36,312 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.79, for a total value of $6,020,166.48. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 46,388 shares in the company, valued at $7,690,666.52. The trade was a 43.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 109,227 shares of company stock valued at $17,892,473. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.