Fifth Third Bancorp Buys 1,247 Shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. $WSM

Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 72.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,974 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after buying an additional 1,247 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $486,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quarry LP increased its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 99.0% in the first quarter. Quarry LP now owns 199 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the period. Costello Asset Management INC bought a new stake in Williams-Sonoma in the first quarter valued at about $32,000. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. bought a new stake in Williams-Sonoma in the first quarter valued at about $33,000. Sentry Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Williams-Sonoma in the first quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Wayfinding Financial LLC bought a new stake in Williams-Sonoma in the first quarter valued at about $35,000. 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 90,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.17, for a total transaction of $18,015,300.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 876,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $175,534,477.59. This represents a 9.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Karalyn Yearout sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.79, for a total transaction of $695,765.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 14,003 shares in the company, valued at $2,783,656.37. The trade was a 20.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 144,153 shares of company stock valued at $27,946,408 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 25th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 28th. UBS Group set a $200.00 target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research note on Thursday, August 28th. Gordon Haskett raised shares of Williams-Sonoma from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $205.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.11.

Williams-Sonoma Trading Down 4.5%

Shares of WSM stock opened at $192.27 on Tuesday. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 1 year low of $125.33 and a 1 year high of $219.98. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $196.68 and its 200-day moving average is $172.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.15, a PEG ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 1.52.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 27th. The specialty retailer reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.74 earnings per share. Williams-Sonoma’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. Williams-Sonoma has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 17th will be given a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 17th. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.04%.

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.