Jump Financial LLC Sells 4,367 Shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Jump Financial LLC reduced its stake in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM - Free Report) by 54.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,696 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after selling 4,367 shares during the quarter. Jump Financial LLC's holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $684,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Kozak & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Williams-Sonoma during the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new stake in Williams-Sonoma during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. ORG Partners LLC bought a new stake in Williams-Sonoma during the 4th quarter valued at $46,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in Williams-Sonoma during the 4th quarter valued at $49,000. 99.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on WSM shares. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $123.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Baird R W raised shares of Williams-Sonoma from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $195.00 to $170.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 20th. KeyCorp raised shares of Williams-Sonoma from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $181.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $179.06.

Williams-Sonoma Price Performance

Williams-Sonoma stock traded up $1.58 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $152.77. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,260,436 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,060,863. The stock has a market cap of $18.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.76. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $164.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $173.39. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 12 month low of $125.33 and a 12 month high of $219.98.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The specialty retailer reported $3.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.88 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $2.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.34 billion. Williams-Sonoma had a net margin of 14.54% and a return on equity of 51.56%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.44 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, May 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.73%. This is an increase from Williams-Sonoma's previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. Williams-Sonoma's dividend payout ratio is 29.30%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Laura Alber sold 30,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.78, for a total transaction of $4,973,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,018,374 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $168,826,041.72. This represents a 2.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 1,408 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $273,602.56. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,388 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,014,116.16. This trade represents a 2.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 76,635 shares of company stock valued at $12,609,055. Insiders own 1.50% of the company's stock.

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.