Ameriprise Financial Inc. Sells 130,621 Shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. reduced its holdings in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 25.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 372,971 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 130,621 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.30% of Williams-Sonoma worth $69,067,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Williams-Sonoma by 15.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,902,382 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $352,283,000 after acquiring an additional 249,389 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the fourth quarter valued at about $290,121,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 84.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,020,489 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $158,085,000 after buying an additional 467,407 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in Williams-Sonoma by 64.1% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 989,700 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $183,273,000 after buying an additional 386,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 563,058 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $104,267,000 after acquiring an additional 31,754 shares during the period. 99.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Williams-Sonoma Price Performance

Shares of Williams-Sonoma stock opened at $160.32 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $157.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $173.79. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $125.33 and a fifty-two week high of $219.98. The firm has a market cap of $19.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.57.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The specialty retailer reported $3.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.88 by $0.40. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 51.56% and a net margin of 14.54%. The company had revenue of $2.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.34 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.44 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 EPS for the current year.

Williams-Sonoma Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, May 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 17th will be paid a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. This is a positive change from Williams-Sonoma’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.30%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on WSM. Robert W. Baird upgraded Williams-Sonoma from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $170.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $195.00 to $185.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $201.00 to $174.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of Williams-Sonoma to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $123.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams-Sonoma presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $175.94.

Insider Transactions at Williams-Sonoma

In other Williams-Sonoma news, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 36,312 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.79, for a total transaction of $6,020,166.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 46,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,690,666.52. The trade was a 43.91 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Laura Alber sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.78, for a total value of $4,973,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,018,374 shares in the company, valued at approximately $168,826,041.72. This trade represents a 2.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 80,635 shares of company stock worth $13,236,175 in the last quarter. 1.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.