Karalyn Yearout Sells 1,112 Shares of Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) Stock

Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) EVP Karalyn Yearout sold 1,112 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.49, for a total value of $254,080.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 21,717 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,962,117.33. The trade was a 4.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Karalyn Yearout also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, June 8th, Karalyn Yearout sold 522 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.07, for a total value of $106,002.54.
• On Wednesday, April 8th, Karalyn Yearout sold 2,267 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.49, for a total value of $436,374.83.

Williams-Sonoma Price Performance

Williams-Sonoma stock traded up $4.32 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $227.61. The stock had a trading volume of 1,239,242 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,175,175. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.49, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.51. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 1-year low of $154.11 and a 1-year high of $230.95. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $192.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $194.15.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 21st. The specialty retailer reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.80 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.80 billion. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 53.29% and a net margin of 13.81%.Williams-Sonoma’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.85 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 9.37 EPS for the current year.

Williams-Sonoma Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 21st. Investors of record on Friday, July 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 17th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.56%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WSM. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 22.4% in 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 in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Williams-Sonoma during the 4th quarter valued at $227,000. Woodline Partners LP bought a new stake in Williams-Sonoma during the 1st quarter valued at $1,644,000. Guggenheim Capital LLC raised 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 valued at $678,000 after acquiring an additional 342 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. raised its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 4,631 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $757,000 after buying an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WSM has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Argus set a $230.00 price objective on Williams-Sonoma in a research note on Friday, May 29th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $175.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Morgan Stanley set a $210.00 price objective on Williams-Sonoma and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $192.00 target price on Williams-Sonoma and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 target price (up from $220.00) on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a report on Friday, May 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $211.47.

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.