Williams-Sonoma, Inc. $WSM Shares Purchased by Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC.

Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. raised its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 5.7% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,913 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after buying an additional 156 shares during the quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC.’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $526,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 21.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,630,310 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $2,471,152,000 after acquiring an additional 2,797,562 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 34.1% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,436,839 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $227,164,000 after acquiring an additional 365,718 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 31.0% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,076,959 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $170,267,000 after acquiring an additional 254,550 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 740.4% during 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. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the 1st quarter worth about $85,075,000. 99.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on WSM shares. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $212.00 to $213.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 28th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 25th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $181.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 25th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $215.00 target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a report on Thursday, August 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, August 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued 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 has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.11.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Williams-Sonoma news, EVP David Randolph King sold 17,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 98,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,066,816. This represents a 15.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $18,015,300.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 876,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $175,534,477.59. This represents a 9.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 144,153 shares of company stock valued at $27,946,408 in the last quarter. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Down 4.2%

WSM opened at $181.42 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $198.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $174.39. The company has a market cap of $22.10 billion, a PE ratio of 19.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.55. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 52 week low of $125.33 and a 52 week high of $219.98.

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

Williams-Sonoma Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 17th will be paid 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 yield of 1.5%. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.