First Long Island Investors LLC Raises Position in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

First Long Island Investors LLC boosted its position in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 99.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 172,683 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 86,078 shares during the quarter. Williams-Sonoma accounts for approximately 2.1% of First Long Island Investors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. First Long Island Investors LLC owned about 0.14% of Williams-Sonoma worth $26,752,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Williams-Sonoma in the second quarter worth $26,000. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 520.0% in the 1st quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 93 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Clean Yield Group bought a new stake in Williams-Sonoma in the third quarter worth $30,000. Finally, HM Payson & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 100.0% during the third quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 200 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.29% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams-Sonoma

In related news, EVP Karalyn Smith sold 11,100 shares of the business’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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,150 shares in the company, valued at $2,040,099. The trade was a 42.29 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Laura Alber sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.27, for a total value of $5,810,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,030,956 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $149,766,978.12. The trade was a 3.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WSM has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wedbush cut shares of Williams-Sonoma from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $150.00 to $135.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $232.00 to $116.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price 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. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $140.00 to $134.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $155.00 to $135.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $139.47.

Williams-Sonoma Price Performance

Williams-Sonoma stock traded down $0.61 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $130.21. The company had a trading volume of 250,504 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,913,100. The company has a market capitalization of $16.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.76. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 12-month low of $80.49 and a 12-month high of $174.26. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $141.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $144.68.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 22nd. The specialty retailer reported $1.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.13. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 51.57% and a net margin of 14.29%. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.81 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.56 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 7.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 18th. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.39%.

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.