United Services Automobile Association Purchases New Position in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. $WSM

United Services Automobile Association purchased a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 2,732 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $434,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of WSM. Hemington Wealth Management boosted its position in Williams-Sonoma by 15.3% during the 1st quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 482 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $76,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. TFB Advisors LLC boosted its position in Williams-Sonoma by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. TFB Advisors LLC now owns 1,281 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $203,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Groupe la Francaise boosted its position in Williams-Sonoma by 13.0% during the 1st quarter. Groupe la Francaise now owns 583 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $96,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Graypoint LLC boosted its position in Williams-Sonoma by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 4,791 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $757,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Bank & Trust boosted its position in Williams-Sonoma by 5.1% during the 1st quarter. First Bank & Trust now owns 1,463 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $231,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on WSM shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 25th. Argus set a $212.00 price objective on Williams-Sonoma in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $212.00 to $213.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $179.00 to $203.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 28th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $162.00 to $202.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Two 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 given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams-Sonoma currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.11.

Insider Activity at Williams-Sonoma

In related news, CEO Laura Alber sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.18, for a total value of $5,045,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 966,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $162,617,782.86. This represents a 3.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP David Randolph King sold 17,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.60, for a total value of $3,563,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 98,560 shares in the company, valued at $20,066,816. This trade represents a 15.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 51,500 shares of company stock valued at $9,284,240. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of WSM opened at $202.60 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $189.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $171.76. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 52 week low of $125.33 and a 52 week high of $219.98. The stock has a market cap of $24.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.29, a P/E/G ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.52.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 27th. The specialty retailer reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.79 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $1.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.74 EPS. Williams-Sonoma has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 EPS for the current year.

Williams-Sonoma Dividend Announcement

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