Corebridge Financial Inc. Has $26.63 Million Position in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Corebridge Financial Inc. decreased its stake in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 6.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 143,799 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 9,172 shares during the quarter. Corebridge Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.12% of Williams-Sonoma worth $26,629,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WSM. Stifel Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 94.8% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 19,535 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $3,026,000 after acquiring an additional 9,509 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 67.4% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 29,959 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $4,641,000 after purchasing an additional 12,061 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in Williams-Sonoma by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 109,359 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $20,251,000 after purchasing an additional 5,337 shares during the last quarter. Commerce Bank raised its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 136.3% during the 3rd quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 9,801 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,518,000 after purchasing an additional 5,654 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 48.5% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 527,740 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $97,875,000 after buying an additional 172,409 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.29% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Williams-Sonoma

In other news, CEO Laura Alber sold 45,000 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.76, for a total transaction of $9,349,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 944,666 shares in the company, valued at approximately $196,263,808.16. The trade was a 4.55 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 1,408 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 $9,014,116.16. This trade represents a 2.95 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WSM has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wedbush dropped their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $190.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $195.00 to $170.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $195.00 to $185.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $226.00 to $208.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $230.00 price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research report on Monday, March 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams-Sonoma presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $177.93.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE WSM opened at $163.27 on Monday. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 12 month low of $125.33 and a 12 month high of $219.98. The company has a market cap of $20.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.82. The business’s 50 day moving average is $197.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $172.60.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 19th. The specialty retailer reported $3.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.88 by $0.40. Williams-Sonoma had a net margin of 14.54% and a return on equity of 51.56%. The company had revenue of $2.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.34 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $5.44 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, May 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 17th will be given a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. This is a boost from Williams-Sonoma’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.62%. Williams-Sonoma’s payout ratio is currently 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.