California Public Employees Retirement System Has $41.36 Million Stock Position in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

California Public Employees Retirement System cut its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM - Free Report) by 7.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 223,343 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after selling 18,429 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.18% of Williams-Sonoma worth $41,359,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 100.0% in the third quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC now owns 236 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Williams-Sonoma during the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Williams-Sonoma in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Kozak & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, ORG Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Institutional investors own 99.29% of the company's stock.

Williams-Sonoma Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of WSM stock traded up $3.08 on Friday, hitting $141.94. 6,801,017 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,019,695. The business has a 50-day moving average of $189.62 and a 200 day moving average of $173.77. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $125.33 and a fifty-two week high of $219.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.82.

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Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The specialty retailer reported $3.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $2.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.34 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.44 EPS. The business's revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, May 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 17th will be given a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.86%. This is an increase from Williams-Sonoma's previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Williams-Sonoma's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.30%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams-Sonoma

In other Williams-Sonoma news, CEO Laura Alber sold 45,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.76, for a total transaction of $9,349,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 944,666 shares of the company's stock, valued at $196,263,808.16. The trade was a 4.55 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 1,408 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,014,116.16. The trade was a 2.95 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 112,720 shares of company stock worth $20,616,369. Insiders own 1.50% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on WSM. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $195.00 to $170.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Wedbush cut their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $190.00 to $170.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered 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. Finally, Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of Williams-Sonoma to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Williams-Sonoma has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $176.93.

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.