Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Purchases 1,359 Shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. $WSM

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 26.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,468 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,359 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $1,057,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WSM. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Williams-Sonoma by 21.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,630,310 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $2,471,152,000 after purchasing an additional 2,797,562 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Williams-Sonoma in the 1st quarter worth about $85,075,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 740.4% in the 2nd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 591,690 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $96,664,000 after acquiring an additional 521,283 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 1,272.6% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 512,846 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $81,081,000 after acquiring an additional 475,484 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 38,589.3% in the 1st quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 451,891 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $71,444,000 after acquiring an additional 450,723 shares in the last quarter. 99.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Karalyn Yearout sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.79, for a total transaction of $695,765.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 14,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,783,656.37. This represents a 20.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Laura Alber sold 90,000 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 876,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $175,534,477.59. The trade was a 9.31% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 114,153 shares of company stock worth $22,901,008. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Performance

Shares of WSM opened at $195.12 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $194.91 and a 200-day moving average price of $178.03. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $125.33 and a fifty-two week high of $219.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.76 billion, a PE ratio of 21.47, a PEG ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 1.55.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 27th. The specialty retailer reported $2.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.79 by $0.21. Williams-Sonoma had a net margin of 14.54% and a return on equity of 54.47%. The firm had revenue of $1.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $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. Equities research analysts forecast that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 EPS for the current year.

Williams-Sonoma Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $162.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of Williams-Sonoma from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $205.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Morgan Stanley upped their target price 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. UBS Group set a $200.00 target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research note on Thursday, August 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $198.56.

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.