Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 2,585 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,651,000.
A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WDC. Kelman Lazarov Inc. acquired a new stake in Western Digital during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $240,000. Addison Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the second quarter worth $152,000. West Family Investments Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter worth $1,268,000. NewEdge Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter worth $14,466,000. Finally, Empirical Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter worth $1,300,000. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Western Digital Stock Performance
Shares of NASDAQ WDC opened at $469.05 on Friday. The company's fifty day moving average price is $554.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $433.12. Western Digital Corporation has a 1 year low of $74.42 and a 1 year high of $799.87. The company has a market capitalization of $161.67 billion, a PE ratio of 19.37 and a beta of 2.14.
Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.31 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.70 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 72.95% and a return on equity of 48.15%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 43.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.66 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.65 EPS for the current year.
Western Digital Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio is presently 2.48%.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
WDC has been the topic of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $400.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Western Digital from $530.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 12th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Western Digital from $500.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Zacks Research upgraded Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Western Digital from $575.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $534.56.
Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on Western Digital
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other Western Digital news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.97, for a total transaction of $8,899,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 575,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $256,287,591.02. This represents a 3.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total value of $396,390.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,903 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,062,813.56. The trade was a 16.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 24,679 shares of company stock worth $11,451,605. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Western Digital Profile
(
Free Report)
Western Digital Corporation is a global data storage company that designs, manufactures and sells a broad range of storage devices and systems for personal, enterprise and cloud applications. Headquartered in San Jose, California, the company develops hard disk drives (HDDs), solid-state drives (SSDs), NAND flash components and finished storage products used in PCs, external storage, servers, network-attached storage (NAS) and embedded systems.
Its product portfolio spans consumer and commercial markets, including internal and external HDDs and SSDs, removable flash memory products and storage platforms for data center and enterprise environments.
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