Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Sells 28,500 Shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lowered its position in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM - Free Report) by 81.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,600 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after selling 28,500 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System's holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $1,043,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Williams-Sonoma in the fourth quarter worth $290,121,000. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the fourth quarter valued at $87,148,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 64.1% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 989,700 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $183,273,000 after buying an additional 386,500 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 16,087.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 264,343 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $41,793,000 after buying an additional 262,710 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 15.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,902,382 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $352,283,000 after purchasing an additional 249,389 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.29% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WSM has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group dropped their target price on 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 upgraded Williams-Sonoma from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $170.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $201.00 to $174.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Baird R W raised Williams-Sonoma from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $215.00 target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research note on Tuesday, June 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $176.75.

Williams-Sonoma Price Performance

NYSE WSM traded up $0.22 during trading on Friday, reaching $170.42. 1,082,277 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,963,941. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $164.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $174.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.30, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 1.45. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $125.33 and a fifty-two week high of $219.98.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 22nd. The specialty retailer reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.76 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $1.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.67 billion. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 52.79% and a net margin of 14.35%. The business's revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.48 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 earnings per share for the current 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 paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 18th. Williams-Sonoma's payout ratio is presently 29.90%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams-Sonoma

In other news, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 4,000 shares of the company'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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 34,388 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,810,196.48. This represents a 10.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Laura Alber sold 30,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.33, for a total value of $4,929,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 996,927 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $163,825,013.91. This represents a 2.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 72,915 shares of company stock valued at $12,036,346 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Williams-Sonoma 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.