Select Equity Group L.P. Sells 12,198 Shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. $WSM

Select Equity Group L.P. reduced its position in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 4.1% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 284,524 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 12,198 shares during the period. Select Equity Group L.P.’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $44,983,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 21.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,630,310 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $2,471,152,000 after buying an additional 2,797,562 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Williams-Sonoma by 31.0% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,076,959 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $170,267,000 after acquiring an additional 254,550 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams-Sonoma in the first quarter worth about $85,075,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 1,272.6% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 512,846 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $81,081,000 after purchasing an additional 475,484 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 33.9% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 509,170 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $80,500,000 after purchasing an additional 129,010 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.29% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WSM has been the subject of several analyst reports. 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 research report on Thursday, August 28th. Barclays set a $166.00 price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $168.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 28th. Gordon Haskett raised shares of Williams-Sonoma from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $205.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $179.00 to $203.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Williams-Sonoma has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.11.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Performance

Shares of Williams-Sonoma stock opened at $202.34 on Friday. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a one year low of $125.33 and a one year high of $219.98. The company has a market cap of $24.64 billion, a PE ratio of 22.26, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.52. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $187.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $171.53.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 27th. The specialty retailer reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.74 earnings per share. Williams-Sonoma has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 18th were given a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 18th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams-Sonoma

In other Williams-Sonoma news, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 34,388 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,810,196.48. This represents a 10.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Laura Alber sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 966,927 shares in the company, valued at $162,617,782.86. This trade represents a 3.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

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.