Kerusso Capital Management LLC Invests $1.66 Million in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Kerusso Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 10,713 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $1,660,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 84.5% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,020,489 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $158,085,000 after buying an additional 467,407 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 28.6% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 964,910 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $272,462,000 after buying an additional 214,669 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 823,692 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $232,613,000 after buying an additional 43,607 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 37.5% in the 1st quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 704,919 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $223,833,000 after buying an additional 192,432 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp grew its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 64.3% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 442,815 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $68,601,000 after buying an additional 173,223 shares in the last quarter. 99.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Williams-Sonoma Trading Down 3.1 %

WSM stock opened at $129.80 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $141.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $144.92. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 12-month low of $71.92 and a 12-month high of $174.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.59, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.76.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 22nd. The specialty retailer reported $1.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.81 billion. Williams-Sonoma had a net margin of 14.29% and a return on equity of 51.57%. The business’s revenue was down 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.56 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 7.99 EPS for the current year.

Williams-Sonoma Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th will be given a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 18th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.76%. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.39%.

Insider Activity at Williams-Sonoma

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on WSM. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $158.00 to $145.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 19th. Wedbush downgraded 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. Evercore ISI cut their price target 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. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $140.00 to $134.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $139.47.

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.