Planned Solutions Inc. Acquires New Shares in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Planned Solutions Inc. bought a new position in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 480 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $97,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WSM. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its position in Williams-Sonoma by 129.3% in the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 188 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Denali Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Williams-Sonoma in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 863.6% during the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 212 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Williams-Sonoma by 820.0% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 230 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares during the period. Finally, BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Williams-Sonoma during the 4th quarter worth $54,000. 99.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Williams-Sonoma news, EVP Karalyn Smith sold 1,145 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.06, for a total transaction of $330,973.70. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,013,591.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Laura Alber sold 20,000 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.74, for a total value of $5,674,800.00. Following the transaction, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Karalyn Smith sold 1,145 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.06, for a total value of $330,973.70. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 6,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,013,591.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 41,145 shares of company stock worth $10,044,174. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WSM has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $146.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $261.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $300.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Williams-Sonoma from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $154.00 to $263.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Williams-Sonoma from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $249.31.

Williams-Sonoma Price Performance

NYSE WSM opened at $314.18 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.66. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $237.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $195.61. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 52-week low of $109.44 and a 52-week high of $317.65.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $5.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.06 by $0.38. Williams-Sonoma had a net margin of 12.25% and a return on equity of 55.15%. The company had revenue of $2.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.22 billion. During the same quarter 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. On average, analysts predict that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 15.37 EPS for the current year.

Williams-Sonoma Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 19th will be given a $1.13 dividend. This represents a $4.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.44%. This is an increase from Williams-Sonoma’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 18th. Williams-Sonoma’s payout ratio is currently 24.71%.

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.