Congress Wealth Management LLC DE Sells 2,156 Shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Congress Wealth Management LLC DE reduced its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM - Free Report) by 9.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 21,904 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after selling 2,156 shares during the quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE's holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $4,056,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Williams-Sonoma by 98.4% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 833,355 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $129,103,000 after acquiring an additional 413,226 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 54.9% during the third quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 4,570 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $708,000 after purchasing an additional 1,619 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 67.4% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 29,959 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $4,641,000 after purchasing an additional 12,061 shares in the last quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 90.8% during the third quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 10,483 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $1,621,000 after buying an additional 4,988 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Williams-Sonoma by 122.1% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 2,054 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $318,000 after buying an additional 1,129 shares in the last quarter. 99.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on WSM. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $230.00 price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a report on Monday, March 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $153.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of 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. 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 report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Gordon Haskett raised Williams-Sonoma to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. One research 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 MarketBeat.com, Williams-Sonoma has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $177.93.

Williams-Sonoma Trading Down 3.4 %

Williams-Sonoma stock traded down $5.67 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $158.75. The stock had a trading volume of 2,284,175 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,983,486. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 52-week low of $125.33 and a 52-week high of $219.98. The company has a market capitalization of $19.54 billion, a PE ratio of 18.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.82. The firm's fifty day moving average is $193.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $173.82.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM - Get Free Report) last posted 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. The business had revenue of $2.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.34 billion. Williams-Sonoma had a net margin of 14.54% and a return on equity of 51.56%. The company's revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $5.44 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, May 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. This is a boost from Williams-Sonoma's previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.66%. Williams-Sonoma's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.30%.

Insider Activity

In other Williams-Sonoma news, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 1,408 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $273,602.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 46,388 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,014,116.16. This represents a 2.95 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Laura Alber sold 45,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.76, for a total value 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. This represents a 4.55 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 112,720 shares of company stock worth $20,616,369 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company's stock.

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.