AXQ Capital LP Sells 3,428 Shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

AXQ Capital LP decreased its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 71.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,385 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 3,428 shares during the quarter. AXQ Capital LP’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $256,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in WSM. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC boosted its position in Williams-Sonoma by 100.0% during the third quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC now owns 236 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Williams-Sonoma in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, Kozak & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Institutional investors own 99.29% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $195.00 to $185.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted 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. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $195.00 to $170.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Williams-Sonoma from $153.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research report on Monday, March 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $177.93.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of Williams-Sonoma stock opened at $163.27 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $197.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $172.60. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a twelve month low of $125.33 and a twelve month high of $219.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.82.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The specialty retailer reported $3.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.88 by $0.40. Williams-Sonoma had a net margin of 14.54% and a return on equity of 51.56%. The company had revenue of $2.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.34 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.44 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, May 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. This is a positive change from Williams-Sonoma’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.62%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio is 29.30%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Laura Alber sold 45,000 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 944,666 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $196,263,808.16. This trade represents a 4.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 1,408 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $273,602.56. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 46,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,014,116.16. This represents a 2.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.