Gateway Wealth Partners LLC Purchases 500 Shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Gateway Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 33.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,000 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the period. Gateway Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $310,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Williams-Sonoma by 28.6% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 964,910 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $272,462,000 after acquiring an additional 214,669 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 5.6% during the second 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 during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 37.5% during the first 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 during the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp raised its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 64.3% during the third 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 536.3% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 383,700 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $108,345,000 after buying an additional 323,400 shares during the last quarter. 99.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Williams-Sonoma Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WSM opened at $132.47 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $16.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.91, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.74. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $141.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $145.44. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a one year low of $71.92 and a one year high of $174.26.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last announced its quarterly 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 net margin of 14.29% and a return on equity of 51.57%. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.81 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.56 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 7.99 EPS for the current year.

Williams-Sonoma Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on WSM. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Williams-Sonoma from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $148.00 to $156.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Wedbush cut their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $175.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $150.00 to $147.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $140.83.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams-Sonoma

In related news, EVP Karalyn Smith sold 11,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,040,099. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, EVP Karalyn Smith sold 11,100 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.66, for a total value of $1,494,726.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,150 shares in the company, valued at $2,040,099. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Laura Alber sold 40,000 shares of Williams-Sonoma 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,030,956 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $149,766,978.12. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

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.