Mediolanum International Funds Ltd Sells 8,681 Shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. $WSM

Mediolanum International Funds Ltd decreased its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 62.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,291 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 8,681 shares during the period. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $869,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WSM. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 7.7% in the 2nd quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC now owns 80,299 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $13,118,000 after buying an additional 5,755 shares during the last quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Williams-Sonoma in the second quarter worth $735,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Williams-Sonoma by 44.9% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,256,734 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $205,317,000 after acquiring an additional 389,548 shares in the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma in the second quarter worth $1,521,000. Finally, Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 7.7% during the second quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 373,900 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $61,084,000 after acquiring an additional 26,700 shares in the last quarter. 99.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams-Sonoma

In other Williams-Sonoma news, CEO Laura Alber sold 90,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.17, for a total transaction of $18,015,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 876,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $175,534,477.59. This represents a 9.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Karalyn Yearout sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.79, for a total transaction of $695,765.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 14,003 shares in the company, valued at $2,783,656.37. The trade was a 20.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 114,153 shares of company stock worth $22,901,008 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Up 3.2%

Shares of NYSE WSM opened at $178.00 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $191.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $182.96. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 52-week low of $130.07 and a 52-week high of $219.98. The company has a market cap of $21.68 billion, a PE ratio of 19.58, a PEG ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.56.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 19th. The specialty retailer reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.86 billion. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 54.47% and a net margin of 14.54%.The company’s revenue was up 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.96 EPS. Williams-Sonoma has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 8.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 17th were given a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 17th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.04%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WSM. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 28th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Williams-Sonoma from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $179.00 to $203.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 28th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group lowered their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $225.00 to $220.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.00.

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.