TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. Purchases 5,271 Shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM - Free Report) by 317.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,933 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after acquiring an additional 5,271 shares during the period. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc.'s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $1,284,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WSM. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 61.6% during the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 7,305 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $1,353,000 after buying an additional 2,784 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC increased its holdings in Williams-Sonoma by 10.0% during the fourth quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 6,808 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $1,261,000 after buying an additional 619 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 74,462 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $13,789,000 after purchasing an additional 4,581 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S lifted its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 117.6% during the 4th quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 195,998 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $36,295,000 after buying an additional 105,911 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Claret Asset Management Corp bought a new position in Williams-Sonoma during the fourth quarter worth about $231,000. 99.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird raised Williams-Sonoma from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $170.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Gordon Haskett raised Williams-Sonoma to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Baird R W raised shares of Williams-Sonoma from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Wedbush reduced their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $190.00 to $170.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Williams-Sonoma presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $179.06.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams-Sonoma

In other news, CEO Laura Alber sold 30,000 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.78, for a total transaction of $4,973,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,018,374 shares in the company, valued at $168,826,041.72. This trade represents a 2.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 1,408 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $273,602.56. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 76,635 shares of company stock valued at $12,609,055. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company's stock.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE WSM traded up $1.58 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $152.77. The stock had a trading volume of 1,260,436 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,060,862. The business's 50 day moving average is $165.82 and its 200-day moving average is $173.33. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 52 week low of $125.33 and a 52 week high of $219.98. The company has a market cap of $18.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.07, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.76.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 19th. The specialty retailer reported $3.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.88 by $0.40. Williams-Sonoma had a net margin of 14.54% and a return on equity of 51.56%. The firm had revenue of $2.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.34 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $5.44 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 EPS 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 given a $0.66 dividend. 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 1.73%. Williams-Sonoma's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.30%.

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.