Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) CEO Laura Alber Sells 40,000 Shares

Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) CEO Laura Alber sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.49, for a total transaction of $5,219,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 990,956 shares in the company, valued at $129,309,848.44. This trade represents a 3.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Laura Alber also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, September 16th, Laura Alber sold 40,000 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.27, for a total value of $5,810,800.00.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Up 2.5 %

Shares of Williams-Sonoma stock opened at $133.89 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $141.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $144.52. The stock has a market cap of $16.92 billion, a PE ratio of 16.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.76. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 12 month low of $88.24 and a 12 month high of $174.26.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 22nd. The specialty retailer reported $1.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.13. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 51.57% and a net margin of 14.29%. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.81 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.56 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 7.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 18th will be paid a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 18th. Williams-Sonoma’s payout ratio is 27.39%.

Institutional Trading of Williams-Sonoma

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 72.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,781,201 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,360,384,000 after purchasing an additional 3,695,837 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 108.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,329,125 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $825,588,000 after buying an additional 2,777,339 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Williams-Sonoma by 107.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,689,451 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $418,223,000 after buying an additional 1,393,436 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 118.7% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,110,320 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $326,931,000 after acquiring an additional 1,145,410 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 324.4% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,036,256 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $160,537,000 after acquiring an additional 792,068 shares during the last quarter. 99.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on WSM. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $158.00 to $145.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 19th. Wedbush cut Williams-Sonoma from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $150.00 to $135.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $232.00 to $116.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group raised Williams-Sonoma from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $148.00 to $156.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $155.00 to $135.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $139.47.

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.