Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM - Free Report) by 186.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,536 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after buying an additional 4,901 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.'s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $1,167,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Williams-Sonoma in the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC increased its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 520.0% in the first quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 93 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Clean Yield Group purchased a new position in Williams-Sonoma in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, HM Payson & Co. increased its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 100.0% in the third quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 200 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 99.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams-Sonoma

In other news, EVP Karalyn Smith sold 11,100 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.66, for a total value of $1,494,726.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,150 shares in the company, valued at $2,040,099. This trade represents a 42.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Laura Alber sold 40,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.49, for a total value of $5,219,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 990,956 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $129,309,848.44. This represents a 3.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 91,100 shares of company stock valued at $12,525,126. 1.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WSM has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research note on Friday. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $155.00 to $135.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Wedbush lowered shares of Williams-Sonoma from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $150.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $140.00 to $134.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $232.00 to $116.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Williams-Sonoma presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $138.84.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Up 2.5 %

Shares of NYSE WSM traded up $3.39 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $137.28. 4,078,808 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,933,854. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $141.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $144.44. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 1-year low of $88.24 and a 1-year high of $174.26. The firm has a market cap of $17.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.76.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 22nd. The specialty retailer reported $1.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.13. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 51.57% and a net margin of 14.29%. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.81 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.56 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 7.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 18th will be issued a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 18th. Williams-Sonoma's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.39%.

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.