Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 1,200 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $222,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its position in Williams-Sonoma by 94.6% during the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 7,389 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,145,000 after buying an additional 3,592 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 30,883.3% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,859 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $288,000 after acquiring an additional 1,853 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 141.5% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 8,896 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,378,000 after purchasing an additional 5,212 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 109.2% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 4,702 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $726,000 after purchasing an additional 2,454 shares during the period. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 101.9% in the third quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 25,865 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $4,007,000 after purchasing an additional 13,054 shares during the period. 99.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Williams-Sonoma

In related news, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 1,408 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were 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. The trade was a 2.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Laura Alber sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.76, for a total value of $9,349,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 944,666 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $196,263,808.16. The trade was a 4.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 49,568 shares of company stock worth $10,183,355 in the last quarter. 1.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WSM has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Telsey Advisory Group increased their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $165.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $136.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Gordon Haskett raised shares of Williams-Sonoma to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $170.00 to $224.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $190.00 target price (up previously from $175.00) on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a report on Friday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Williams-Sonoma presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $173.28.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of WSM opened at $194.23 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $201.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $168.00. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.79 and a 12-month high of $219.98. The stock has a market cap of $23.91 billion, a PE ratio of 22.97, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.79.

Williams-Sonoma Dividend Announcement

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. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 17th. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.98%.

Williams-Sonoma 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.