Congress Asset Management Co. Purchases 57,314 Shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Congress Asset Management Co. grew its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 112.3% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 108,370 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 57,314 shares during the quarter. Congress Asset Management Co.’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $16,789,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WSM. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC grew its position 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 buying an additional 78 shares during the period. Clean Yield Group acquired a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Hobbs Group Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Institutional investors own 99.29% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Williams-Sonoma

In other news, CEO Laura Alber sold 40,000 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.27, for a total transaction of $5,810,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,030,956 shares in the company, valued at $149,766,978.12. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Laura Alber sold 40,000 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.27, for a total transaction of $5,810,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,030,956 shares in the company, valued at $149,766,978.12. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Karalyn Smith sold 11,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.66, for a total value of $1,494,726.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,150 shares in the company, valued at $2,040,099. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on WSM. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $150.00 to $147.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Barclays reduced their price target 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. TD Cowen lifted their price target 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. Finally, Wedbush downgraded shares of Williams-Sonoma from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $150.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $139.83.

Williams-Sonoma Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:WSM opened at $134.13 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $141.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $145.27. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 1-year low of $71.92 and a 1-year high of $174.26. The stock has a market cap of $16.95 billion, a PE ratio of 16.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.74.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 22nd. The specialty retailer reported $1.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.81 billion. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 51.57% and a net margin of 14.29%. The business’s revenue was down 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.56 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 7.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 18th. Williams-Sonoma’s payout ratio is 27.39%.

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.