Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Buys 1,513 Shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 32.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,112 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,513 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $947,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WSM. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in Williams-Sonoma during the second quarter worth about $26,000. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Williams-Sonoma in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC boosted 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 worth $30,000 after buying an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Clean Yield Group bought a new position in Williams-Sonoma during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, HM Payson & Co. raised its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 100.0% during the third quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 200 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. 99.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Karalyn Smith sold 11,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.66, for a total transaction of $1,494,726.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,040,099. This trade represents a 42.29 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Laura Alber sold 40,000 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.27, for a total value of $5,810,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,030,956 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $149,766,978.12. The trade was a 3.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WSM has been the topic of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Williams-Sonoma from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $148.00 to $156.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Wedbush downgraded Williams-Sonoma from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $150.00 to $135.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $150.00 to $147.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Citigroup decreased their price target on 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, Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams-Sonoma currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $139.47.

Williams-Sonoma Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of WSM opened at $130.65 on Friday. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 1-year low of $80.49 and a 1-year high of $174.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.70, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.76. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $141.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $144.50.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 22nd. The specialty retailer reported $1.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.81 billion. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 51.57% and a net margin of 14.29%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.56 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 7.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th will be paid a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 18th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.75%. Williams-Sonoma’s payout ratio is 27.40%.

Williams-Sonoma Company 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.