Linscomb Wealth Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Linscomb Wealth Inc. grew its position in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 94.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 121,545 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 58,921 shares during the quarter. Williams-Sonoma makes up approximately 0.9% of Linscomb Wealth Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest position. Linscomb Wealth Inc.’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $18,830,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Williams-Sonoma by 520.0% in the 1st quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 93 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Clean Yield Group bought a new position in Williams-Sonoma during the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Finally, HM Payson & Co. grew its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 200 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 99.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams-Sonoma

In related news, CEO Laura Alber sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.27, for a total value of $5,810,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,030,956 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $149,766,978.12. This trade represents a 3.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Karalyn Smith sold 11,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.66, for a total value of $1,494,726.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,040,099. This trade represents a 42.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Williams-Sonoma Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of Williams-Sonoma stock traded down $0.61 on Friday, reaching $130.21. 250,504 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,913,100. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $141.30 and a 200-day moving average price of $144.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.76. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $80.49 and a fifty-two week high of $174.26.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 22nd. The specialty retailer reported $1.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.13. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 51.57% and a net margin of 14.29%. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.81 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.56 earnings per share. Williams-Sonoma’s quarterly revenue was down 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 7.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th will be given a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 18th. Williams-Sonoma’s payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on WSM. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $158.00 to $145.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $150.00 to $147.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Barclays lowered their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $232.00 to $116.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Williams-Sonoma from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $148.00 to $156.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Williams-Sonoma presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $139.47.

Williams-Sonoma 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.