MetLife Investment Management LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM - Free Report) by 6.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 74,462 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after buying an additional 4,581 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC owned about 0.06% of Williams-Sonoma worth $13,789,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Williams-Sonoma in the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new position in Williams-Sonoma in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Kozak & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Williams-Sonoma in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. ORG Partners LLC acquired a new position in Williams-Sonoma during the fourth quarter worth $46,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma in the fourth quarter valued at about $49,000. 99.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WSM has been the subject of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $180.00 to $175.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $170.00 to $224.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group raised shares of Williams-Sonoma from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $140.00 to $165.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Baird R W upgraded Williams-Sonoma from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $195.00 to $185.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. One investment 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $178.93.

Williams-Sonoma Price Performance

WSM traded up $4.08 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $146.01. 1,816,425 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,062,378. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $168.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $172.89. The company has a market cap of $18.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.27, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.76. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a twelve month low of $125.33 and a twelve month high of $219.98.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The specialty retailer reported $3.28 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.34 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.44 EPS. The business's revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams-Sonoma Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.81%. This is a boost from Williams-Sonoma's previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Williams-Sonoma's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.30%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Laura Alber sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.78, for a total transaction of $4,973,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,018,374 shares in the company, valued at approximately $168,826,041.72. This represents a 2.86 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Karalyn Yearout sold 8,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total transaction 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. This represents a 32.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 76,635 shares of company stock valued at $12,609,055. Insiders own 1.50% of the company's stock.

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.