Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.40 EPS

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) issued its earnings results on Wednesday. The specialty retailer reported $3.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.88 by $0.40, Briefing.com reports. The business had revenue of $2.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.34 billion. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 51.56% and a net margin of 14.54%. Williams-Sonoma’s revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.44 earnings per share. Williams-Sonoma updated its FY 2025 guidance to EPS.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Down 3.5 %

WSM stock opened at $166.20 on Thursday. Williams-Sonoma has a twelve month low of $125.33 and a twelve month high of $219.98. The company has a market cap of $20.46 billion, a PE ratio of 19.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.82. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $198.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $171.88.

Williams-Sonoma Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, May 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 17th will be given a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. This is an increase from Williams-Sonoma’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.59%. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 1,408 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $273,602.56. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,014,116.16. This trade represents a 2.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Laura Alber sold 45,000 shares of Williams-Sonoma stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.76, for a total value of $9,349,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 944,666 shares in the company, valued at approximately $196,263,808.16. This trade represents a 4.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Williams-Sonoma

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Williams-Sonoma stock. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 22.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,742 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,236 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $1,248,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 99.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $170.00 to $224.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $170.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Loop Capital raised their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $145.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $179.53.

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.