Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) Shares Sold by AQR Capital Management LLC

AQR Capital Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 8.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 251,820 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 22,919 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.07% of Western Digital worth $15,016,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 32.3% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 45,131 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $2,691,000 after acquiring an additional 11,013 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its stake in Western Digital by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 841,700 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $50,191,000 after purchasing an additional 50,188 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Western Digital by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 390,826 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $23,305,000 after buying an additional 15,189 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 83.9% during the fourth quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 31,634 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $1,886,000 after buying an additional 14,432 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 53.3% in the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 99,444 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $5,930,000 after buying an additional 34,579 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Bank of America reduced their target price on Western Digital from $89.00 to $80.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Susquehanna dropped their price target on Western Digital from $72.00 to $40.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Western Digital from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $57.00 in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Western Digital from $75.00 to $65.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Western Digital currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $64.15.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,659 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.36, for a total value of $68,616.24. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 43,776 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,810,575.36. This trade represents a 3.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Western Digital Trading Down 0.5 %

WDC traded down $0.20 during trading on Friday, reaching $44.10. The company had a trading volume of 4,960,169 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,344,054. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. Western Digital Co. has a 52 week low of $28.83 and a 52 week high of $81.55. The stock has a market cap of $15.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.50 and a beta of 1.42. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.49.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.30. The business had revenue of ($1,465.00) million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 15.68% and a net margin of 9.95%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 33.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.63 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Western Digital Co. will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio is 7.58%.

Western Digital Company Profile

Western Digital Corporation develops, manufactures, and sells data storage devices and solutions in the United States, China, Hong Kong, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, rest of Asia, and internationally. It offers client devices, including hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid state drives (SSDs) for desktop and notebook personal computers (PCs), gaming consoles, and set top boxes; and flash-based embedded storage products for mobile phones, tablets, notebook PCs, and other portable and wearable devices, as well as automotive, Internet of Things, industrial, and connected home applications.