Empirical Finance LLC Raises Position in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Empirical Finance LLC grew its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 100.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,128 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after buying an additional 3,064 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $949,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in Williams-Sonoma in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Williams-Sonoma in the second quarter worth $29,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 520.0% during the first quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 93 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Clean Yield Group purchased a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the third quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, HM Payson & Co. increased its holdings in Williams-Sonoma by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 200 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.29% of the company’s stock.

Williams-Sonoma Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE WSM opened at $130.65 on Friday. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 12 month low of $80.49 and a 12 month high of $174.26. The stock has a market cap of $16.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.69, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.76. The company’s 50 day moving average is $141.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $144.50.

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

Williams-Sonoma Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th will be paid a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 18th. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Laura Alber sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.27, for a total transaction of $5,810,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,030,956 shares in the company, valued at approximately $149,766,978.12. This represents a 3.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Karalyn Smith sold 11,100 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were 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 owns 15,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,040,099. This represents a 42.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WSM has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Williams-Sonoma from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $148.00 to $156.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Williams-Sonoma from $150.00 to $147.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $232.00 to $116.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $139.47.

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.