Whittier Trust Co. Sells 77 Shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. $WSM

Whittier Trust Co. lessened its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 6.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,041 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 77 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co.’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $170,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of WSM. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 3,016 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $493,000 after buying an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Hemington Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 15.3% during the 1st quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 482 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. TFB Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. TFB Advisors LLC now owns 1,281 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $203,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Groupe la Francaise lifted its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 13.0% during the 1st quarter. Groupe la Francaise now owns 583 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $96,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Graypoint LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 4,791 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $757,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.29% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $168.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 28th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 28th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $181.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 25th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $215.00 price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a report on Thursday, August 28th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $162.00 to $202.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $198.56.

Insider Activity

In other Williams-Sonoma news, EVP Karalyn Yearout sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.79, for a total value of $695,765.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 14,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,783,656.37. This trade represents a 20.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 3,153 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.84, for a total transaction of $626,942.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 34,138 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,787,999.92. This trade represents a 8.46% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 114,153 shares of company stock worth $22,901,008 in the last quarter. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Performance

WSM stock opened at $189.27 on Friday. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 52 week low of $125.33 and a 52 week high of $219.98. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $195.22 and its 200 day moving average is $176.71. The firm has a market cap of $23.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.82, a P/E/G ratio of 3.04 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 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.79 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $1.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. Williams-Sonoma had a net margin of 14.54% and a return on equity of 54.47%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.74 EPS. Williams-Sonoma has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 EPS for the current year.

Williams-Sonoma Dividend Announcement

The company 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 17th. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.