First Long Island Investors LLC Grows Position in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

First Long Island Investors LLC grew its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 99.4% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 172,683 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 86,078 shares during the quarter. Williams-Sonoma accounts for 2.1% of First Long Island Investors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. First Long Island Investors LLC’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $26,752,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Williams-Sonoma by 4.4% in the first quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC now owns 1,225 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $389,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Williams-Sonoma by 19.7% in the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 358 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $114,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Williams-Sonoma by 6.3% in the first quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 1,199 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $381,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diversify Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Williams-Sonoma by 2.6% in the third quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,226 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $500,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.29% of the company’s stock.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WSM traded down $0.61 during trading on Friday, hitting $130.21. The company had a trading volume of 250,504 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,913,100. The company has a market cap of $16.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.72, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.76. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 52 week low of $80.49 and a 52 week high of $174.26. The business’s 50-day moving average is $141.30 and its 200 day moving average is $144.68.

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

Williams-Sonoma Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.57 per share. 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 dividend payout ratio is 27.39%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on WSM. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $158.00 to $145.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 19th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Citigroup cut their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $140.00 to $134.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Three investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $139.47.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Karalyn Smith sold 11,100 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,040,099. This trade represents a 42.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Laura Alber sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.27, for a total value of $5,810,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,030,956 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $149,766,978.12. This represents a 3.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.