First Trust Advisors LP Reduces Holdings in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

First Trust Advisors LP reduced its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM - Free Report) by 8.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,954,483 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after selling 181,963 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 1.59% of Williams-Sonoma worth $361,931,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

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 value of $4,973,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,018,374 shares in the company, valued at $168,826,041.72. The trade was a 2.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Karalyn Yearout sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total transaction of $1,212,240.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,505 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,501,002.65. This trade represents a 32.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 76,635 shares of company stock worth $12,609,055 in the last three months. Insiders own 1.50% of the company's stock.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Performance

Shares of WSM traded up $5.24 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $151.12. The company had a trading volume of 577,625 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,284,501. 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 $18.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.76. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $168.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $172.89.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.88 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $2.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.34 billion. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 51.56% and a net margin of 14.54%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.44 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, May 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. This is a boost from Williams-Sonoma's previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.75%. Williams-Sonoma's dividend payout ratio is presently 29.30%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WSM has been the subject of several analyst reports. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $180.00 to $175.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Gordon Haskett raised shares of Williams-Sonoma to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $123.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $170.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded Williams-Sonoma from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $170.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams-Sonoma presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target 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.