King Luther Capital Management Corp Has $330,000 Stock Position in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

King Luther Capital Management Corp boosted its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 114.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,128 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,138 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $330,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quent Capital LLC grew its position in Williams-Sonoma by 19.7% during the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 358 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $114,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the first quarter worth $286,000. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 374.8% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 489 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $155,000 after buying an additional 386 shares in the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 520.0% in the first quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 93 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Williams-Sonoma during the 1st quarter worth about $208,000. 99.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Williams-Sonoma

In other news, EVP Karalyn Smith sold 11,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.66, for a total value of $1,494,726.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,150 shares in the company, valued at $2,040,099. This trade represents a 42.29 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Laura Alber sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.49, for a total value of $5,219,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 990,956 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $129,309,848.44. This represents a 3.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 91,100 shares of company stock valued at $12,525,126 over the last 90 days. 1.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $165.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $116.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Telsey Advisory Group increased their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $165.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup lowered their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $140.00 to $134.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Wedbush raised their price target on Williams-Sonoma from $135.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $154.41.

Williams-Sonoma Trading Down 0.3 %

WSM opened at $171.98 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.34, a P/E/G ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 1.76. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 12 month low of $90.31 and a 12 month high of $181.42. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $143.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $144.87.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 22nd. The specialty retailer reported $1.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.13. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 51.56% and a net margin of 14.54%. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.81 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.56 earnings per share. Williams-Sonoma’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th were issued a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.33%. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.97%.

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.