Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Boosts Stock Position in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 102.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,988 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,511 shares during the quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $463,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WSM. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Williams-Sonoma by 118.7% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,110,320 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $326,931,000 after buying an additional 1,145,410 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 84.5% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,020,489 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $158,085,000 after purchasing an additional 467,407 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 98.4% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 833,355 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $129,103,000 after purchasing an additional 413,226 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 5.6% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 823,692 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $232,613,000 after purchasing an additional 43,607 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. grew its holdings in Williams-Sonoma by 100.3% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 549,118 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $85,069,000 after purchasing an additional 274,983 shares during the period. 99.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Williams-Sonoma

In other news, CEO Laura Alber sold 40,000 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.49, for a total transaction of $5,219,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 990,956 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $129,309,848.44. The trade was a 3.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Performance

NYSE:WSM opened at $174.10 on Wednesday. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 52-week low of $90.87 and a 52-week high of $181.42. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $144.82 and a 200 day moving average of $145.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 1.76.

Williams-Sonoma Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th were given a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.31%. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.97%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on WSM. Loop Capital boosted their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $145.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $136.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $116.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $165.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $162.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams-Sonoma currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $154.41.

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.