Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) Raises Dividend to $0.66 Per Share

Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, March 19th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Thursday, April 17th will be paid a dividend of 0.66 per share by the specialty retailer on Saturday, May 24th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.54%. This is a 15.8% increase from Williams-Sonoma’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57.

Williams-Sonoma has raised its dividend by an average of 20.5% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 19 years. Williams-Sonoma has a dividend payout ratio of 24.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Williams-Sonoma to earn $8.51 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.28 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 26.8%.

Williams-Sonoma Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE:WSM opened at $171.90 on Wednesday. Williams-Sonoma has a 12 month low of $125.33 and a 12 month high of $219.98. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $198.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $171.92. The firm has a market cap of $21.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.33, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.82.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The specialty retailer reported $3.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.88 by $0.40. Williams-Sonoma had a net margin of 14.54% and a return on equity of 51.56%. The firm had revenue of $2.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.34 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.44 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Williams-Sonoma will post 8.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams-Sonoma

In other Williams-Sonoma news, CEO Laura Alber sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.76, for a total transaction of $9,349,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 944,666 shares in the company, valued at $196,263,808.16. This represents a 4.55 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Jeffrey Howie sold 1,408 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $273,602.56. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 46,388 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,014,116.16. The trade was a 2.95 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Williams-Sonoma

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Williams-Sonoma stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 22.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,742 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,236 shares during the period. 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WSM has been the topic of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $170.00 to $224.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of Williams-Sonoma to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $140.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $162.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Loop Capital boosted their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $145.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $176.28.

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.