Empirical Finance LLC Acquires 3,064 Shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Empirical Finance LLC grew its holdings in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 100.0% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,128 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,064 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $949,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WSM. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Williams-Sonoma by 84.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,020,489 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $158,085,000 after acquiring an additional 467,407 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 28.6% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 964,910 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $272,462,000 after purchasing an additional 214,669 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 823,692 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $232,613,000 after purchasing an additional 43,607 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 37.5% during the 1st quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 704,919 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $223,833,000 after purchasing an additional 192,432 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its holdings in Williams-Sonoma by 659.6% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 531,304 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $82,309,000 after buying an additional 461,361 shares during the period. 99.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Williams-Sonoma Price Performance

Shares of Williams-Sonoma stock opened at $130.65 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $16.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.69, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.76. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $141.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $144.50. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 1 year low of $80.49 and a 1 year high of $174.26.

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

Williams-Sonoma Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders 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 1.75%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 18th. Williams-Sonoma’s payout ratio is 27.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Williams-Sonoma news, EVP Karalyn Smith sold 11,100 shares of the business’s 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 directly owns 15,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,040,099. The trade was a 42.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Laura Alber sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The shares were 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. The trade was a 3.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WSM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research note on Friday. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $155.00 to $135.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Wedbush downgraded shares of Williams-Sonoma from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $150.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays cut their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $232.00 to $116.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Williams-Sonoma from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $148.00 to $156.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $139.47.

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.