Baird Financial Group Inc. Trims Stock Position in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. $WSM

Baird Financial Group Inc. lessened its position in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 2.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,337 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 159 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $1,002,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Redwood Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,424,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new position in Williams-Sonoma during the first quarter worth $895,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 26.4% during the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 44,398 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $7,019,000 after purchasing an additional 9,266 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 10.6% during the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 17,402 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $2,751,000 after purchasing an additional 1,673 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 128.0% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 217,644 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $34,410,000 after purchasing an additional 122,180 shares in the last quarter. 99.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Williams-Sonoma 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 transaction of $675,840.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 34,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,810,196.48. The trade was a 10.42% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed 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 stock was sold at an average price of $168.18, for a total value of $5,045,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 966,927 shares in the company, valued at $162,617,782.86. The trade was 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 company insiders.

Williams-Sonoma Trading Up 0.5%

WSM opened at $203.44 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.78 billion, a PE ratio of 22.38, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.52. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 1-year low of $125.33 and a 1-year high of $219.98. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $188.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $171.33.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last released its 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 net margin of 14.54% and a return on equity of 54.47%. The company had revenue of $1.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.74 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Williams-Sonoma has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 EPS for the current year.

Williams-Sonoma Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 18th were issued 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 1.3%. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.04%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 25th. Barclays set a $166.00 target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Argus set a $212.00 target price on Williams-Sonoma in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $181.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 28th. Two analysts have 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, Williams-Sonoma presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.11.

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.