Planning Capital Management Corp Purchases New Stake in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Planning Capital Management Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 326 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $51,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WSM. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma in the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Williams-Sonoma during the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC lifted its position in Williams-Sonoma by 520.0% during the 1st quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 93 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the period. Clean Yield Group purchased a new position in Williams-Sonoma during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, HM Payson & Co. lifted its position in Williams-Sonoma by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 200 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. 99.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Williams-Sonoma news, 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 completion of 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. This represents a 3.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Karalyn Smith sold 11,100 shares of the 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,040,099. The trade was a 42.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Up 1.0 %

Williams-Sonoma stock opened at $130.85 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $16.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.72, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.76. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $141.30 and its 200 day moving average is $144.68. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 52-week low of $79.18 and a 52-week high of $174.26.

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

Williams-Sonoma Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th will be paid a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 18th. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.39%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $140.00 to $134.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $232.00 to $116.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Wedbush lowered shares of Williams-Sonoma from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $150.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams-Sonoma presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $139.47.

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.