DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale Sells 5,405 Shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale decreased its position in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 2.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 234,605 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 5,405 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale owned about 0.07% of Western Digital worth $9,381,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDC. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 52.9% in the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 28,838 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $1,166,000 after buying an additional 9,974 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 144,307 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $5,834,000 after purchasing an additional 6,947 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 6.8% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 89,244 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $3,608,000 after purchasing an additional 5,711 shares during the last quarter. Corebridge Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 20.9% in the 4th quarter. Corebridge Financial Inc. now owns 156,247 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $9,317,000 after purchasing an additional 27,017 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 14.1% in the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 51,194 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $3,053,000 after purchasing an additional 6,320 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Western Digital Price Performance

WDC traded up $1.08 during trading on Friday, hitting $66.14. 5,323,844 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,612,819. Western Digital Corporation has a twelve month low of $28.83 and a twelve month high of $80.09. The company has a market cap of $23.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.53 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.56 and a quick ratio of 1.31. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $55.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $53.15.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.36 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 the consensus estimate of $2.70 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 13.33% and a return on equity of 20.58%. The company's revenue was down 33.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.63 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.60%. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.58%.

Western Digital announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, May 13th that permits the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the data storage provider to buy up to 11.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their price objective on Western Digital from $76.00 to $50.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Benchmark raised Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $55.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Western Digital from $62.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday. TD Cowen reduced their price target on Western Digital from $80.00 to $58.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Western Digital from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $57.00 in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $64.11.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In related news, CEO Irving Tan sold 11,379 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.19, for a total value of $548,354.01. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 605,481 shares of the company's stock, valued at $29,178,129.39. The trade was a 1.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,729 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.88, for a total transaction of $94,887.52. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 40,089 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,200,084.32. This represents a 4.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 13,353 shares of company stock worth $657,454. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Western Digital 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.