Greatmark Investment Partners Inc. Has $1.46 Million Stock Position in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Greatmark Investment Partners Inc. increased its stake in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 4.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,219 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 320 shares during the quarter. Greatmark Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $1,457,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. MCF Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Williams-Sonoma in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 129.3% during the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 188 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. Denali Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Williams-Sonoma during the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 820.0% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 230 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 30.5% during the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 231 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.29% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Williams-Sonoma

In other news, CEO Laura Alber sold 20,000 shares of the company’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 $143,433,123.66. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 505,509 shares in the company, valued at $143,433,123.66. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Marta Benson sold 17,816 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $308.19, for a total value of $5,490,713.04. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 68,597 shares in the company, valued at $21,140,909.43. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 41,145 shares of company stock worth $12,182,219 over the last three months. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WSM has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $315.00 to $300.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley raised Williams-Sonoma from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $155.00 to $270.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $330.00 target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Telsey Advisory Group lifted their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Williams-Sonoma from $195.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $248.06.

Williams-Sonoma Price Performance

WSM traded up $3.33 on Monday, hitting $285.49. The company had a trading volume of 323,400 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,004,280. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $275.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $218.52. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 1-year low of $109.44 and a 1-year high of $319.78. The stock has a market cap of $18.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.69.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $5.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $5.50 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side 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 issued a dividend of $1.13 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 18th. This is a positive change from Williams-Sonoma’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. This represents a $4.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.58%. Williams-Sonoma’s payout ratio is 31.02%.

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.