EP Wealth Advisors LLC Makes New $1.28 Million Investment in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. $WSM

EP Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 5,514 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $1,285,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in Williams-Sonoma by 22.4% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,742 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,248,000 after purchasing an additional 1,236 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC bought a new position in Williams-Sonoma in the 4th quarter valued at $227,000. Woodline Partners LP acquired a new position in Williams-Sonoma in the first quarter worth $1,644,000. Guggenheim Capital LLC boosted its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 9.0% in the second quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 4,153 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $678,000 after purchasing an additional 342 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 5.9% in the second quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 4,631 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $757,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WSM. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $190.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Evercore set a $240.00 price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Telsey Advisory Group upped their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $225.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Seaport Research Partners reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a report on Friday, August 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Williams-Sonoma from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, August 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $231.88.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Down 0.1%

Williams-Sonoma stock opened at $237.34 on Monday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $232.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $207.71. The stock has a market cap of $27.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.50. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 12-month low of $165.51 and a 12-month high of $254.89.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 21st. The specialty retailer reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.80 by $0.13. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 53.29% and a net margin of 13.81%.The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.80 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.85 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current year.

Williams-Sonoma Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 21st. Investors of record on Friday, July 17th were paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 17th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Williams-Sonoma’s payout ratio is 34.04%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Karalyn Yearout sold 1,112 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.49, for a total value of $254,080.88. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 21,717 shares in the company, valued at $4,962,117.33. This represents a 4.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Laura Alber sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $3,000,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 923,524 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $184,704,800. This trade represents a 1.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 18,156 shares of company stock valued at $3,738,699 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Williams-Sonoma Company 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.