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Bleakley Financial Group LLC Sells 3,430 Shares of Western Digital Corporation $WDC

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Key Points

  • Bleakley Financial Group cut its Western Digital stake by 17% in the first quarter, selling 3,430 shares and leaving it with 16,715 shares valued at about $4.52 million.
  • Institutional ownership remains heavy, with 92.51% of Western Digital shares held by institutions. Several other funds recently increased or initiated positions in the company.
  • Western Digital has seen bullish analyst interest and strong recent earnings, including a quarterly EPS beat and higher revenue, while Wall Street expects more upside ahead of its August 5 results release.
  • MarketBeat previews the top five stocks to own by August 1st.

Bleakley Financial Group LLC reduced its stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 17.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 16,715 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 3,430 shares during the quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC's holdings in Western Digital were worth $4,521,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 23.8% during the 1st quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 9,531 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $2,578,000 after purchasing an additional 1,833 shares during the last quarter. Triglav Investments D.O.O. acquired a new position in Western Digital in the first quarter valued at about $5,058,000. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. grew its stake in Western Digital by 325.1% during the first quarter. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. now owns 68,870 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $18,629,000 after buying an additional 52,670 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Western Digital by 23.5% during the first quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 530 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $158,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diversify Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the first quarter worth approximately $1,265,000. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

More Western Digital News

Here are the key news stories impacting Western Digital this week:

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on WDC shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Weiss Ratings raised Western Digital from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a report on Monday. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Western Digital from $685.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on Western Digital from $340.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Western Digital from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $340.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $520.32.

Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on Western Digital

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $545.60, for a total value of $235,699.20. Following the transaction, the insider owned 116,643 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $63,640,420.80. This trade represents a 0.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 4,674 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $443.19, for a total transaction of $2,071,470.06. Following the sale, the insider owned 90,041 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $39,905,270.79. This represents a 4.93% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 29,322 shares of company stock worth $12,768,550 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of WDC opened at $563.32 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $194.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.63 and a beta of 2.11. The business's fifty day moving average price is $560.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $379.58. Western Digital Corporation has a 52 week low of $65.79 and a 52 week high of $799.87.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. This is a boost from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio is currently 3.58%.

About Western Digital

(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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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC)

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

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