Optas LLC Lowers Stake in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. $WSM

Optas LLC lowered its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 34.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,266 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 660 shares during the period. Optas LLC’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $207,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Maseco LLP purchased a new stake in Williams-Sonoma during the second quarter worth $26,000. Quarry LP lifted its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 99.0% during the 1st quarter. Quarry LP now owns 199 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Costello Asset Management INC purchased a new position in Williams-Sonoma during the 1st quarter worth $32,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC purchased a new position in Williams-Sonoma during the 1st quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Williams-Sonoma by 123.6% during the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 246 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.29% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Williams-Sonoma news, CEO Laura Alber sold 90,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.17, for a total transaction of $18,015,300.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 876,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $175,534,477.59. This trade represents a 9.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 3,153 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.84, for a total value of $626,942.52. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 34,138 shares in the company, valued at $6,787,999.92. This represents a 8.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 144,153 shares of company stock valued at $27,946,408 over the last quarter. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Williams-Sonoma Price Performance

NYSE WSM opened at $181.42 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $198.04 and its 200 day moving average price is $174.26. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 1 year low of $125.33 and a 1 year high of $219.98. The company has a market cap of $22.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.96, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.55.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last released its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $1.84 billion for 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 revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.74 EPS. Williams-Sonoma has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Research analysts expect that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams-Sonoma Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 17th will be given a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 17th. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.04%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Williams-Sonoma from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on Williams-Sonoma from $212.00 to $213.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 28th. UBS Group set a $200.00 price target on Williams-Sonoma in a research note on Thursday, August 28th. KeyCorp increased their price target on Williams-Sonoma from $181.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Williams-Sonoma from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.11.

Williams-Sonoma Company 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.