Bailard Inc. Purchases 66 Shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Bailard Inc. increased its position in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 4,091 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $758,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 255.1% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,573 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $293,000 after purchasing an additional 1,130 shares in the last quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp raised its position in Williams-Sonoma by 16.7% in the 4th quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp now owns 14,000 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $2,592,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Williams-Sonoma in the 4th quarter worth about $264,000. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 2,122 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $393,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the period. Finally, Wakefield Asset Management LLLP purchased a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the 4th quarter valued at about $488,000. 99.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Williams-Sonoma

In other news, CEO Laura Alber sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.76, for a total value of $9,349,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 944,666 shares in the company, valued at $196,263,808.16. The trade was a 4.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 1,408 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $273,602.56. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 46,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,014,116.16. This represents a 2.95 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Williams-Sonoma Trading Down 3.7 %

Williams-Sonoma stock opened at $187.33 on Tuesday. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 12-month low of $117.13 and a 12-month high of $219.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.79. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $201.47 and a 200 day moving average of $168.71.

Williams-Sonoma Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 17th were paid a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 17th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.22%. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.98%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WSM has been the subject of several research reports. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $194.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $190.00 target price (up from $175.00) on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research note on Friday. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Williams-Sonoma from $140.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $170.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $170.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Williams-Sonoma currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $173.28.

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.