South Dakota Investment Council Cuts Stake in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. $WSM

South Dakota Investment Council reduced its position in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 75.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,047 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 12,714 shares during the quarter. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $661,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Maseco LLP purchased a new position in Williams-Sonoma in the second quarter worth $26,000. Quarry LP grew its holdings in Williams-Sonoma by 99.0% in the first quarter. Quarry LP now owns 199 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Costello Asset Management INC purchased a new position in Williams-Sonoma in the first quarter worth $32,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC purchased a new position in Williams-Sonoma in the first quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in Williams-Sonoma in the second quarter worth $48,000. 99.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on WSM. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 25th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $215.00 price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a report on Thursday, August 28th. UBS Group set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a report on Thursday, August 28th. Finally, Argus set a $212.00 price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $198.56.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams-Sonoma

In other Williams-Sonoma news, EVP David Randolph King sold 17,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 98,560 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,066,816. This represents a 15.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Karalyn Yearout sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.79, for a total transaction of $695,765.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 14,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,783,656.37. This trade represents a 20.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 114,153 shares of company stock valued at $22,901,008 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Performance

NYSE:WSM opened at $194.03 on Wednesday. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a one year low of $125.33 and a one year high of $219.98. The firm has a market cap of $23.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.35, a PEG ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.55. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $194.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $179.82.

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 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 company had revenue of $1.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.74 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. Williams-Sonoma has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 17th will be issued a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 17th. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.