Voya Investment Management LLC Has $47 Million Position in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Voya Investment Management LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM - Free Report) by 18.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 253,824 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after selling 57,776 shares during the quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC owned about 0.21% of Williams-Sonoma worth $47,003,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Abacus FCF Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 46.2% during the 4th quarter. Abacus FCF Advisors LLC now owns 23,950 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $4,435,000 after buying an additional 7,564 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Williams-Sonoma by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 109,359 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $20,251,000 after purchasing an additional 5,337 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 48.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 527,740 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $97,875,000 after purchasing an additional 172,409 shares during the period. National Pension Service grew its holdings in 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 buying an additional 3,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its position in Williams-Sonoma by 132.0% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 3,905 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $723,000 after buying an additional 2,222 shares during the period. 99.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WSM has been the topic of several research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $170.00 to $224.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $153.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $226.00 to $208.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. KeyCorp raised Williams-Sonoma from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $181.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Williams-Sonoma from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their target price for the company from $140.00 to $165.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Williams-Sonoma presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $179.06.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of WSM stock traded down $0.34 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $153.06. 630,829 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,055,442. The stock has a market cap of $18.90 billion, a PE ratio of 18.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.76. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $163.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $173.25. 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 data on Wednesday, March 19th. The specialty retailer reported $3.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.88 by $0.40. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 51.56% and a net margin of 14.54%. The business had revenue of $2.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.34 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $5.44 earnings per share. Williams-Sonoma's quarterly revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, May 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 17th will be given a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. This is an increase from Williams-Sonoma's previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Williams-Sonoma's dividend payout ratio is currently 29.30%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Williams-Sonoma news, CEO Laura Alber sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.78, for a total transaction 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. This trade represents a 2.86 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 915 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.69, for a total value of $129,646.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,388 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,572,715.72. This trade represents a 1.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 76,635 shares of company stock worth $12,609,055. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.