Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Increases Stock Position in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise increased its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 162.1% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 27,602 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after buying an additional 17,071 shares during the period. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $4,276,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Williams-Sonoma during the second quarter worth $26,000. Cassady Schiller Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. Cassady Schiller Wealth Management LLC now owns 166 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams-Sonoma in the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 520.0% during the 1st quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 93 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clean Yield Group bought a new stake in Williams-Sonoma during the third quarter valued at about $30,000. 99.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on WSM. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $155.00 to $135.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on Williams-Sonoma from $150.00 to $147.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $136.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Williams-Sonoma presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $138.84.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Up 2.5 %

Williams-Sonoma stock opened at $137.28 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $141.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $144.44. The company has a market capitalization of $17.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.76. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 52 week low of $88.24 and a 52 week high of $174.26.

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 business had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.81 billion. Williams-Sonoma had a net margin of 14.29% and a return on equity of 51.57%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.56 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 7.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 18th will be given a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 18th. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams-Sonoma

In related news, EVP Karalyn Smith sold 11,100 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, 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 can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Laura Alber sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.49, for a total value of $5,219,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 990,956 shares in the company, valued at approximately $129,309,848.44. This represents a 3.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 91,100 shares of company stock worth $12,525,126. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

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.