Alta Advisers Ltd Invests $11.73 Million in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• Alta Advisers bought 18,372 Western Digital shares worth approximately $11.73 million in the second quarter, making WDC its eighth-largest holding and representing 2.7% of its portfolio.
• Institutional investors own 92.51% of Western Digital, while analysts maintain a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating with an average price target of $534.56.
• Western Digital reported quarterly EPS of $3.56, beating estimates of $3.31, while revenue rose 43.8% year over year to $3.75 billion. The company also declared a $0.15 quarterly dividend.

Alta Advisers Ltd bought a new stake in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 18,372 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $11,735,000. Western Digital makes up 2.7% of Alta Advisers Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 8th largest position.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WDC. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Dunhill Financial LLC acquired a new position in Western Digital in the second quarter valued at $29,000. Gables Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Western Digital in the second quarter valued at $32,000. Ares Financial Consulting LLC grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 45.5% during the second quarter. Ares Financial Consulting LLC now owns 80 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dogwood Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 28.6% during the second quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 90 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WDC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut Western Digital from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Sunday, August 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Western Digital from $530.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Melius Research set a $1,050.00 price target on Western Digital and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $676.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on Western Digital from $660.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $534.56.

Western Digital Price Performance

Western Digital stock opened at $459.44 on Friday. Western Digital Corporation has a 1-year low of $74.57 and a 1-year high of $799.87. The company has a market cap of $158.36 billion, a PE ratio of 18.98 and a beta of 2.14. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $552.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $433.31.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.31 by $0.25. Western Digital had a return on equity of 48.15% and a net margin of 72.95%.The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.66 earnings per share. Western Digital's revenue was up 43.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 8th. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.48%.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In related news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 808 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $529.63, for a total value of $427,941.04. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 114,539 shares in the company, valued at $60,663,290.57. This trade represents a 0.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $556.24, for a total transaction of $1,376,694.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 85,154 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,366,060.96. This represents a 2.82% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 24,679 shares of company stock worth $11,451,605. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Western Digital Profile

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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