Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) CEO Laura Alber Sells 20,000 Shares

Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) CEO Laura Alber sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $318.53, for a total value of $6,370,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 555,550 shares in the company, valued at approximately $176,959,341.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Laura Alber also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, March 15th, Laura Alber sold 20,000 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.74, for a total transaction of $5,674,800.00.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE WSM opened at $309.50 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $296.96 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $233.77. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a twelve month low of $109.44 and a twelve month high of $322.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.72.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $5.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.06 by $0.38. The company had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.22 billion. Williams-Sonoma had a net margin of 12.25% and a return on equity of 55.15%. Williams-Sonoma’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $5.50 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 15.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 24th. Investors of record on Friday, April 19th will be issued a dividend of $1.13 per share. This represents a $4.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.46%. This is a boost from Williams-Sonoma’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 18th. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.02%.

Institutional Trading of Williams-Sonoma

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Williams-Sonoma during the fourth quarter worth approximately $152,843,000. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its position in Williams-Sonoma by 37.5% in the 1st quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 704,919 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $223,833,000 after purchasing an additional 192,432 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp lifted its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 4,101.0% in the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 138,004 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $27,846,000 after purchasing an additional 134,719 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in Williams-Sonoma during the first quarter valued at about $40,060,000. Finally, Glenmede Trust Co. NA grew its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 638.3% during the third quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 142,402 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $22,129,000 after buying an additional 123,114 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on WSM shares. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $146.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $261.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $310.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Williams-Sonoma from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $154.00 to $263.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Williams-Sonoma from $195.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $258.38.

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.