Darwin Wealth Management LLC Cuts Stake in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Darwin Wealth Management LLC reduced its stake in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 13.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,598 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 251 shares during the period. Darwin Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $322,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 30.5% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 231 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 27.8% in the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 299 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. JGP Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. JGP Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,725 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,155,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 3,413 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $530,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,340 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $674,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. 99.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on WSM shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Williams-Sonoma from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $245.00 to $275.00 in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $200.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $195.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $330.00 price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Williams-Sonoma from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $155.00 to $270.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams-Sonoma currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $256.19.

Williams-Sonoma Trading Up 4.5 %

Shares of WSM traded up $13.65 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $318.57. The company had a trading volume of 755,198 shares, compared to its average volume of 988,671. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $287.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $226.33. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $109.44 and a fifty-two week high of $319.78. The stock has a market cap of $20.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.72.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $5.44 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.06 by $0.38. Williams-Sonoma had a net margin of 12.25% and a return on equity of 55.15%. The business had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.50 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 15.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 24th. Investors of record on Friday, April 19th will be paid a dividend of $1.13 per share. This is an increase from Williams-Sonoma’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. This represents a $4.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 18th. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.02%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Laura Alber sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.74, for a total transaction of $5,674,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 505,509 shares in the company, valued at $143,433,123.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Williams-Sonoma news, EVP Karalyn Smith sold 1,145 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.06, for a total value of $330,973.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,966 shares in the company, valued at $2,013,591.96. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Laura Alber sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.74, for a total value of $5,674,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 505,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $143,433,123.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 41,145 shares of company stock valued at $12,182,219. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.