GS Investments Inc. Sells 357 Shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. $WSM

GS Investments Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 5.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,444 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 357 shares during the quarter. GS Investments Inc.’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $1,053,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Maseco LLP purchased a new position in Williams-Sonoma in the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Quarry LP increased its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 99.0% in the 1st quarter. Quarry LP now owns 199 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. Costello Asset Management INC bought a new stake in Williams-Sonoma in the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Williams-Sonoma during the 2nd quarter valued at $48,000. Finally, Cromwell Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 7,675.0% during the second quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 311 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 307 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $179.00 to $203.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 28th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $215.00 price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research note on Thursday, August 28th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $181.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Williams-Sonoma currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $198.56.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Performance

Shares of Williams-Sonoma stock opened at $197.12 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $194.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $180.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.01 billion, a PE ratio of 21.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.56. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 52-week low of $128.37 and a 52-week high of $219.98.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 27th. The specialty retailer reported $2.00 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $1.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. Williams-Sonoma had a net margin of 14.54% and a return on equity of 54.47%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.74 earnings per share. Williams-Sonoma has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.04%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Karalyn Yearout sold 3,500 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.79, for a total value of $695,765.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 14,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,783,656.37. This trade represents a 20.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Laura Alber sold 90,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 876,927 shares in the company, valued at $175,534,477.59. This represents a 9.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 114,153 shares of company stock valued at $22,901,008 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

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.