Korea Investment CORP Lowers Stock Holdings in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Korea Investment CORP reduced its position in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 21.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 78,813 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 21,670 shares during the quarter. Korea Investment CORP’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $14,595,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of WSM. Stifel Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 94.8% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 19,535 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $3,026,000 after purchasing an additional 9,509 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 109,359 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $20,251,000 after acquiring an additional 5,337 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 48.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 527,740 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $97,875,000 after acquiring an additional 172,409 shares during the period. National Pension Service raised its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 316,535 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $58,616,000 after acquiring an additional 3,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TCW Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma in the third quarter valued at $1,958,000. 99.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WSM has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Williams-Sonoma from $195.00 to $185.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Wedbush cut their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $190.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $230.00 price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of Williams-Sonoma to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $153.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Williams-Sonoma currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $177.93.

Insider Transactions at Williams-Sonoma

In other news, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 1,408 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $273,602.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,014,116.16. This represents a 2.95 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 944,666 shares in the company, valued at approximately $196,263,808.16. This trade represents a 4.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 112,720 shares of company stock worth $20,616,369 over the last 90 days. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Williams-Sonoma Price Performance

WSM stock opened at $158.75 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $19.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.82. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $193.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $173.82. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 12 month low of $125.33 and a 12 month high of $219.98.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The specialty retailer reported $3.28 EPS 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 business had revenue of $2.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.34 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $5.44 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams-Sonoma Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, May 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 17th will be paid a $0.66 dividend. This is an increase from Williams-Sonoma’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.30%.

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.