Motley Fool Asset Management LLC Buys 198 Shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. $WSM

Motley Fool Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 6.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,138 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 198 shares during the period. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $513,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 3,016 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $493,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the period. Hemington Wealth Management increased its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 15.3% during the 1st quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 482 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the period. TFB Advisors LLC increased its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. TFB Advisors LLC now owns 1,281 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $203,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. Groupe la Francaise increased its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 13.0% in the 1st quarter. Groupe la Francaise now owns 583 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $96,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Graypoint LLC increased its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 4,791 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $757,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.29% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WSM has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Gordon Haskett upgraded Williams-Sonoma from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $205.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Williams-Sonoma from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 25th. UBS Group set a $200.00 price target on Williams-Sonoma in a research note on Thursday, August 28th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Williams-Sonoma from $181.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 25th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Williams-Sonoma from $162.00 to $202.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $198.56.

Insider Transactions at Williams-Sonoma

In other Williams-Sonoma news, EVP David Randolph King sold 17,500 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.60, for a total transaction of $3,563,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 98,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,066,816. The trade was a 15.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 3,153 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.84, for a total value of $626,942.52. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 34,138 shares in the company, valued at $6,787,999.92. The trade was a 8.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 114,153 shares of company stock worth $22,901,008. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Up 3.6%

NYSE WSM opened at $199.71 on Wednesday. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a twelve month low of $125.33 and a twelve month high of $219.98. The company has a market cap of $24.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.55. The business’s fifty day moving average is $194.99 and its 200 day moving average is $177.70.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 27th. The specialty retailer reported $2.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.74 EPS. 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. On average, research analysts anticipate that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 21st. Investors of record on Friday, October 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 17th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.