Legal & General Group Plc Cuts Holdings in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Legal & General Group Plc cut its stake in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM - Free Report) by 23.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 629,498 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after selling 193,512 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.51% of Williams-Sonoma worth $116,570,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Stifel Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 94.8% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 19,535 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $3,026,000 after buying an additional 9,509 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Williams-Sonoma by 150.1% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 20,390 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $3,159,000 after acquiring an additional 12,237 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 79.9% during the 3rd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,556 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $241,000 after acquiring an additional 691 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 51.7% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 14,416 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $2,233,000 after purchasing an additional 4,915 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 48.4% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 6,189 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $959,000 after purchasing an additional 2,018 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.29% of the company's stock.

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Williams-Sonoma Stock Performance

Shares of WSM stock traded down $3.12 during trading on Monday, hitting $145.13. The company had a trading volume of 1,678,152 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,062,945. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $179.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $173.82. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a one year low of $125.33 and a one year high of $219.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.76.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The specialty retailer reported $3.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.88 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $2.46 billion for 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 business's quarterly revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $5.44 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 earnings per share 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 dividend of $0.66 per share. 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 1.82%. Williams-Sonoma's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.30%.

Insider Transactions at Williams-Sonoma

In other news, CEO Laura Alber sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were 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. This represents 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, EVP Karalyn Yearout sold 8,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total value of $1,212,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,505 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,501,002.65. The trade was a 32.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 120,720 shares of company stock worth $21,828,609. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $195.00 to $185.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Gordon Haskett upgraded Williams-Sonoma to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $226.00 to $208.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $180.00 to $175.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Baird R W upgraded shares of Williams-Sonoma from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $178.93.

About Williams-Sonoma

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.