M&T Bank Corp Trims Holdings in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

M&T Bank Corp lowered its stake in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 6.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 15,681 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 1,057 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $3,164,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MCF Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Williams-Sonoma during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 129.3% during the third quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 188 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 820.0% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 230 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 30.5% in the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 231 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Williams-Sonoma during the third quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on WSM shares. Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a report on Friday, March 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Williams-Sonoma from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $154.00 to $263.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Telsey Advisory Group raised their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 25th. StockNews.com cut shares of Williams-Sonoma from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $195.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $256.19.

Williams-Sonoma Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of Williams-Sonoma stock opened at $301.56 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $284.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $225.13. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 12-month low of $109.44 and a 12-month high of $319.78. The company has a market cap of $19.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.70, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.72.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $5.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.06 by $0.38. The company had revenue of $2.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.22 billion. Williams-Sonoma had a net margin of 12.25% and a return on equity of 55.15%. Williams-Sonoma’s revenue was down 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.50 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 15.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 19th will be given a dividend of $1.13 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 18th. This represents a $4.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.50%. This is a positive change from Williams-Sonoma’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.02%.

Insider Transactions at Williams-Sonoma

In other Williams-Sonoma news, CEO Marta Benson sold 17,816 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $308.19, for a total transaction of $5,490,713.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 68,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,140,909.43. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Marta Benson sold 17,816 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $308.19, for a total value of $5,490,713.04. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 68,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,140,909.43. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Laura Alber sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.74, for a total transaction of $5,674,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 505,509 shares in the company, valued at approximately $143,433,123.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 41,145 shares of company stock valued at $12,182,219 in the last three months. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.