Williams-Sonoma, Inc. $WSM Shares Purchased by Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC

Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 31,008 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the period. Williams-Sonoma accounts for approximately 1.8% of Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $5,064,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 2.1% in 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 lifted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 64 shares during the period. TFB Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 5.5% in 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 lifted 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 worth $96,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. Finally, Graypoint LLC lifted 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 worth $757,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.29% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Williams-Sonoma news, EVP Karalyn Yearout sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.79, for a total transaction of $695,765.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 14,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,783,656.37. This trade represents a 20.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Laura Alber sold 90,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $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 114,153 shares of company stock valued at $22,901,008 over the last quarter. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on WSM. Morgan Stanley raised 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. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $212.00 to $213.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 28th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $168.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $198.56.

Williams-Sonoma Trading Down 1.0%

NYSE:WSM opened at $185.65 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $196.82 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $175.22. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a twelve month low of $125.33 and a twelve month high of $219.98. The company has a market capitalization of $22.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.55.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last posted its earnings results 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 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 the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.74 EPS. The firm’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, equities research analysts predict that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams-Sonoma Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 17th. 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.