Corebridge Financial Inc. Sells 112,997 Shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. $WSM

Key Points

• Corebridge Financial Inc. significantly reduced its stake in Williams-Sonoma, selling 112,997 shares, resulting in a 78.6% decrease in its holdings, now worth approximately $4.87 million.
• Institutional investors continue to hold the majority, with 99.29% of shares owned by them; notable changes include Vanguard increasing its stake by 21.8% and Pacer Advisors raising theirs by an astonishing 1,272.6%.
• Equities analysts have mixed ratings on Williams-Sonoma, with one Strong Buy, seven Buy, ten Hold, and one Sell, along with an average target price set at $198.35.

Corebridge Financial Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM - Free Report) by 78.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 30,802 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after selling 112,997 shares during the quarter. Corebridge Financial Inc.'s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $4,870,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 21.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,630,310 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $2,471,152,000 after purchasing an additional 2,797,562 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 31.0% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,076,959 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $170,267,000 after purchasing an additional 254,550 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 645,402 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $119,516,000 after purchasing an additional 24,741 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the 1st quarter valued at $85,075,000. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 1,272.6% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 512,846 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $81,081,000 after acquiring an additional 475,484 shares during the last quarter. 99.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Zelman & Associates assumed coverage on Williams-Sonoma in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. They issued an "underperform" rating on the stock. KeyCorp upped their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $181.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 25th. UBS Group set a $200.00 target price on Williams-Sonoma in a research note on Thursday. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Williams-Sonoma presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $198.35.

Insider Transactions at Williams-Sonoma

In other news, CEO Laura Alber sold 30,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.18, for a total value of $5,045,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 966,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $162,617,782.86. This represents a 3.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.96, for a total value of $675,840.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 34,388 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,810,196.48. This represents a 10.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 38,000 shares of company stock valued at $6,349,680 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Williams-Sonoma Trading Down 0.2%

WSM opened at $187.77 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $183.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $172.16. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 12-month low of $125.33 and a 12-month high of $219.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.66, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.47.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 27th. The specialty retailer reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.79 by $0.21. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 54.47% and a net margin of 14.54%.The firm had revenue of $1.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.74 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Williams-Sonoma has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 EPS for the current year.

Williams-Sonoma Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 18th were issued a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 18th. 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.