Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Acquires 5,212 Shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 141.5% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 8,896 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,212 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $1,378,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WSM. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. bought a new position in Williams-Sonoma in the first quarter worth approximately $40,060,000. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Williams-Sonoma in the first quarter worth approximately $490,000. Tobam bought a new position in Williams-Sonoma in the first quarter worth approximately $138,000. Choreo LLC bought a new position in Williams-Sonoma in the first quarter worth approximately $273,000. Finally, Fidelis Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Williams-Sonoma in the first quarter worth approximately $61,000. Institutional investors own 99.29% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Williams-Sonoma

In other Williams-Sonoma news, CEO Laura Alber sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $149,766,978.12. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Williams-Sonoma news, CEO Laura Alber sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $149,766,978.12. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Karalyn Smith sold 11,100 shares of the 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly 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. 1.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Williams-Sonoma Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of WSM opened at $132.28 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $141.64 and a 200-day moving average price of $145.18. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 12 month low of $71.92 and a 12 month high of $174.26. The firm has a market cap of $16.71 billion, a PE ratio of 15.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.74.

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

Williams-Sonoma Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th will be given a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 18th. Williams-Sonoma’s payout ratio is 27.39%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on WSM. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a report on Friday, October 11th. Barclays lowered their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $232.00 to $116.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $155.00 to $135.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Wedbush lowered Williams-Sonoma from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $150.00 to $135.00 in a report on Wednesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $139.83.

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.