Burford Brothers Inc. Makes New Investment in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. $WSM

Burford Brothers Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 3,695 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $660,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WSM. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 22.4% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,742 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,248,000 after acquiring an additional 1,236 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC bought a new position in Williams-Sonoma during the 4th quarter worth $227,000. Woodline Partners LP bought a new position in Williams-Sonoma during the 1st quarter worth $1,644,000. Guggenheim Capital LLC increased its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 9.0% during the 2nd quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 4,153 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $678,000 after acquiring an additional 342 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. increased its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 4,631 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $757,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on WSM. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Williams-Sonoma from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $185.00 to $218.00 in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Williams-Sonoma from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Barclays raised their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $180.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $206.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $185.00 price objective on Williams-Sonoma and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $207.81.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Karalyn Yearout sold 2,267 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.49, for a total value of $436,374.83. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 23,351 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,494,833.99. This trade represents a 8.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 32,684 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.64, for a total value of $5,904,037.76. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 34,138 shares in the company, valued at $6,166,688.32. This represents a 48.91% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 71,370 shares of company stock worth $13,268,623. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Performance

Shares of WSM opened at $168.51 on Friday. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 52-week low of $147.39 and a 52-week high of $222.00. The business’s fifty day moving average is $184.81 and its 200-day moving average is $192.21. The firm has a market cap of $19.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.04, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.49.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 18th. The specialty retailer reported $3.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.14. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 51.45% and a net margin of 13.94%.The company had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.41 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.28 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 9.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 17th will be paid a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 17th. This is a positive change from Williams-Sonoma’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio is 29.83%.

Williams-Sonoma Profile

Williams‑Sonoma, Inc is a specialty retailer focused on the home and culinary markets, best known for premium cookware, kitchen tools and home furnishings. The company traces its roots to a single cookware store founded by Chuck Williams in 1956 in Sonoma, California, and has evolved into a multi‑brand home furnishings and housewares business. Its merchandise mix spans cookware and kitchen electrics, tabletop and food prep items, furniture, bedding, lighting and decorative accessories designed for both everyday use and higher‑end interiors.

The company operates a portfolio of consumer brands that target distinct segments of the home market.