Voss Capital LLC Lowers Stock Position in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Voss Capital LLC cut its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 80.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 11,000 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 45,700 shares during the quarter. Voss Capital LLC’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $2,220,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WSM. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 863.6% during the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 212 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares in the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P raised its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 129.3% during the third quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 188 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. Denali Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the third quarter worth approximately $32,000. Quarry LP raised its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 229.8% during the first quarter. Quarry LP now owns 277 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 820.0% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 230 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. 99.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on WSM. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $261.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $300.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $195.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Loop Capital boosted their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $220.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a report on Friday, March 15th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Williams-Sonoma presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $249.31.

Williams-Sonoma Price Performance

Williams-Sonoma stock traded down $0.25 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $288.60. 1,090,330 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,041,174. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 12 month low of $109.44 and a 12 month high of $319.78. The business has a 50 day moving average of $261.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $209.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.69.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $5.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.06 by $0.38. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 55.15% and a net margin of 12.25%. The firm had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.50 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 15.37 EPS for the current year.

Williams-Sonoma Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 19th will be given a dividend of $1.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 18th. This represents a $4.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.57%. This is a positive change from Williams-Sonoma’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.71%.

Insider Transactions at Williams-Sonoma

In other Williams-Sonoma news, CEO Laura Alber sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.74, for a total transaction of $5,674,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 505,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $143,433,123.66. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Laura Alber sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.74, for a total transaction of $5,674,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 505,509 shares in the company, valued at approximately $143,433,123.66. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Karalyn Smith sold 1,145 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.06, for a total transaction of $330,973.70. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,013,591.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 61,145 shares of company stock worth $16,220,619 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

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.