Brooklyn Investment Group Buys Shares of 179 Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 179 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $28,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Williams-Sonoma during the first quarter worth approximately $416,000. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 403.1% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 12,045 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $3,825,000 after buying an additional 9,651 shares during the period. Cetera Advisors LLC grew its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 81.2% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 3,348 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,063,000 after buying an additional 1,500 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its holdings in Williams-Sonoma by 28.2% in the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 19,344 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $6,106,000 after acquiring an additional 4,250 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Williams-Sonoma by 24.4% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 789 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $223,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.29% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Laura Alber sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.49, for a total transaction of $5,219,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 990,956 shares in the company, valued at approximately $129,309,848.44. This represents a 3.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Williams-Sonoma Price Performance

Shares of WSM stock opened at $172.02 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $146.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $145.39. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a one year low of $92.55 and a one year high of $181.42. The firm has a market cap of $21.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.76.

Williams-Sonoma Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th were issued a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. Williams-Sonoma’s payout ratio is 26.97%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on WSM. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Williams-Sonoma from $140.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Williams-Sonoma from $136.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Wedbush raised their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $135.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Loop Capital upped their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $145.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $154.41.

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.