CEOs Are Buying and Selling Shares of These Companies

CEO of Specialty Home Retailer Offloads Sizable Block of Shares Amid Weak Performance

The top-ranking executive at Williams-Sonoma Inc. (NYSE:WSM) offloaded a sizable block of shares earlier this week. President and CEO Laura J. Alber discarded an 80,000-share block on Monday at prices ranging from $52.55 to $53.39 per share, cutting her direct holding to 307,860 shares. Ms. Alber also holds an indirect ownership stake of 13,790 shares.

The shares of the specialty retailer of products for home are 11% in the red thus far in 2016. Soon after Williams-Sonoma Inc. (NYSE:WSM) reported a weaker-than-expected top line for the second quarter and a downbeat full-year guidance, analysts at Jefferies cut their price target on the stock to $56 from $57 while maintaining their ‘Hold’ rating on the company. The specialty home retailer blamed the softening retailer environment, impacted by weaker consumer spending, for the revenue miss. Jefferies analysts also pointed out that Williams-Sonoma could face increased competition and promotion pressure from both brick-and-mortar and online retailers. The specialty home retailer fell out of favor with the hedge funds followed by Insider Monkey during the second quarter of 2016, as the number of funds invested in the company fell to 18 from 31 quarter-on-quarter. Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies LLC had 676,300 shares of Williams-Sonoma Inc. (NYSE:WSM) among its holdings at the end of the April-to-June period.

CEO of Buffalo Bank Sells Shares

The most influential insider at M&T Bank Corporation (NYSE:MTB) unloaded some shares this week, after several other insiders at the company discarded shares through the course of the previous week. Robert G. Wilmers, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, sold 39,637 shares on Monday and 60,363 shares on Wednesday at prices varying from $118.25 to $118.74 per share. After the recent transactions, Mr. Wilmers currently holds a direct ownership stake of 2.43 million shares.

The financial holding company, which has M&T Bank as its principal banking subsidiary, has seen its market capitalization drop by 3% since the start of the year. At the end of June, the Federal Reserve approved M&T Bank Corporation (NYSE:MTB)’s capital plan in the regulator’s annual stress test, with the capital plan including an increase in the company’s quarterly dividend by up to $0.05 per share to $0.75 in the first quarter of 2017. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway owns 5.38 million shares of M&T Bank Corporation (NYSE:MTB) as of June 30.

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