Allstate Corp Takes $682,000 Position in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Allstate Corp purchased a new position in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 3,683 shares of the specialty retailer's stock, valued at approximately $682,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Williams-Sonoma by 15.5% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 396 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,474 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $643,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Westmount Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Westmount Partners LLC now owns 6,242 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $1,156,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Bailard Inc. raised its holdings in Williams-Sonoma by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 4,091 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $758,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Avantax Advisory Services Inc. boosted its position in Williams-Sonoma by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 2,575 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $477,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. 99.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on WSM shares. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $180.00 to $175.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $153.00 to $168.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $123.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Gordon Haskett upgraded Williams-Sonoma to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Williams-Sonoma from $195.00 to $185.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $176.93.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Laura Alber sold 30,000 shares of the firm'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 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 36,312 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.79, for a total transaction of $6,020,166.48. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 46,388 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,690,666.52. This represents a 43.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 112,720 shares of company stock worth $20,616,369 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.50% of the company's stock.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WSM traded up $3.08 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $141.94. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,801,017 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,023,444. The company has a market cap of $17.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.82. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $125.33 and a fifty-two week high of $219.98. The business's 50 day moving average price is $188.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $173.93.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The specialty retailer reported $3.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.88 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $2.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.34 billion. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 51.56% and a net margin of 14.54%. Williams-Sonoma's quarterly revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.44 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 17th will be given a dividend of $0.66 per share. 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 1.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. Williams-Sonoma's payout ratio is currently 29.30%.

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.