Great Lakes Advisors LLC Lowers Holdings in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. $WSM

Great Lakes Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 3.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,828 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 329 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $1,396,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Hemington Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Williams-Sonoma by 15.3% in the 1st quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 482 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. TFB Advisors LLC grew its position in Williams-Sonoma by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. TFB Advisors LLC now owns 1,281 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $203,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Groupe la Francaise grew its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 13.0% during the 1st quarter. Groupe la Francaise now owns 583 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $96,000 after buying an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Graypoint LLC grew its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 4,791 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $757,000 after buying an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Bank & Trust lifted its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 5.1% during the 1st quarter. First Bank & Trust now owns 1,463 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $231,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. 99.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on WSM. Argus set a $212.00 price target on Williams-Sonoma in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $181.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 25th. Barclays set a $166.00 target price on Williams-Sonoma and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $179.00 to $203.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 28th. Finally, Gordon Haskett raised Williams-Sonoma from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $205.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Williams-Sonoma presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.11.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 4,000 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 34,388 shares in the company, valued at $5,810,196.48. This trade represents a 10.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Laura Alber sold 30,000 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 966,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $162,617,782.86. This trade represents a 3.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 51,500 shares of company stock worth $9,284,240 over the last quarter. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Williams-Sonoma Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of WSM opened at $203.41 on Friday. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 12 month low of $125.33 and a 12 month high of $219.98. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $190.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $171.82. The firm has a market cap of $24.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.38, a PEG ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.52.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 27th. The specialty retailer reported $2.00 EPS 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 analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.74 earnings per share. Williams-Sonoma’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Williams-Sonoma has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 EPS for the current year.

Williams-Sonoma Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 18th were issued a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 18th. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.