Wellington Management Group LLP Purchases Shares of 8,877 Williams-Sonoma, Inc. $WSM

Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new stake in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 8,877 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $1,403,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WSM. Sentry Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Williams-Sonoma in the first quarter valued at about $32,000. Costello Asset Management INC purchased a new stake in Williams-Sonoma in the first quarter valued at about $32,000. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. purchased a new stake in Williams-Sonoma in the first quarter valued at about $33,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Williams-Sonoma in the first quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Williams-Sonoma in the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. 99.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WSM has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Williams-Sonoma from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group set a $200.00 target price on Williams-Sonoma in a report on Thursday. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $181.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 25th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Gordon Haskett raised Williams-Sonoma from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $205.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $198.35.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.96, for a total value of $675,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 34,388 shares in the company, valued at $5,810,196.48. The trade was a 10.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Laura Alber sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.18, for a total value of $5,045,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 966,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $162,617,782.86. This trade represents a 3.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Williams-Sonoma Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:WSM opened at $187.77 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 capitalization of $23.10 billion, a PE ratio of 20.66, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.52. The business has a 50 day moving average of $183.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $171.92.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 27th. The specialty retailer reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by $0.21. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 54.47% and a net margin of 14.54%.The company had revenue of $1.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.74 earnings per share. Williams-Sonoma’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. Williams-Sonoma has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 18th were given a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 18th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Williams-Sonoma’s payout ratio is 29.04%.

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.