Swedbank AB Makes New Investment in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. $WSM

Key Points

• Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Williams-Sonoma, Inc., purchasing 18,740 shares valued at approximately $3,062,000 in the 2nd quarter.
• Williams-Sonoma reported $2.00 EPS for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations, and set its FY 2025 earnings guidance.
• The company has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.66 per share, with a 1.3% annual yield, to be paid on November 21st.

Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 18,740 shares of the specialty retailer's stock, valued at approximately $3,062,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new position in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the first quarter worth approximately $895,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 26.4% during the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 44,398 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $7,019,000 after buying an additional 9,266 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 10.6% during the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 17,402 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $2,751,000 after buying an additional 1,673 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 128.0% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 217,644 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $34,410,000 after buying an additional 122,180 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 26.2% during the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 14,197 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $2,245,000 after buying an additional 2,945 shares during the period. 99.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on WSM shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 25th. Gordon Haskett upgraded Williams-Sonoma from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $205.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 28th. Argus set a $212.00 target price on Williams-Sonoma in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $212.00 to $213.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, August 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $199.11.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of Williams-Sonoma stock traded down $1.49 on Monday, hitting $196.76. 888,373 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,300,829. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $193.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $171.95. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 12-month low of $125.33 and a 12-month high of $219.98. The company has a market cap of $23.96 billion, a PE ratio of 21.65, a PEG ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 1.52.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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. Williams-Sonoma had a net margin of 14.54% and a return on equity of 54.47%. The business had revenue of $1.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.82 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.74 EPS. Williams-Sonoma's revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. Williams-Sonoma has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 EPS for the current year.

Williams-Sonoma Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 21st. Investors of record on Friday, October 17th will be issued a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 17th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. Williams-Sonoma's dividend payout ratio is currently 29.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 3,153 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.84, for a total value 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 represents a 8.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP David Randolph King sold 17,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.60, for a total transaction of $3,563,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 98,560 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,066,816. This represents a 15.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 144,653 shares of company stock worth $27,926,483. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

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.