Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC Sells 653 Shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC lessened its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,345 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 653 shares during the period. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $3,953,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Abacus FCF Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 7,564 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 5,337 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service grew its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 316,535 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $58,616,000 after acquiring an additional 3,200 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 2,222 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 114,047 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $20,728,000 after acquiring an additional 6,757 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on WSM. Wedbush decreased their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $190.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Barclays raised their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $123.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $195.00 to $185.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, KeyCorp upgraded Williams-Sonoma from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $181.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Williams-Sonoma currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $175.94.

Williams-Sonoma Price Performance

WSM stock opened at $160.32 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $157.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $174.29. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a one year low of $125.33 and a one year high of $219.98. The stock has a market cap of $19.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.57.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The specialty retailer reported $3.28 EPS 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%. Williams-Sonoma’s revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $5.44 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, May 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 17th will be paid a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. This is an increase from Williams-Sonoma’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.65%. Williams-Sonoma’s payout ratio is 29.30%.

Insider Activity at Williams-Sonoma

In related news, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 1,408 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $273,602.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,388 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,014,116.16. The trade was a 2.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Laura Alber sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were 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 owns 1,018,374 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $168,826,041.72. This trade represents a 2.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 80,635 shares of company stock worth $13,236,175 in the last ninety days. 1.50% of the stock is owned by company 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.