Highland Peak Capital LLC Buys 498,380 Shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)

Key Points

• Highland Peak Capital LLC significantly increased its stake in Western Digital Corporation by 235.3%, acquiring an additional 498,380 shares during the first quarter, bringing its total holdings to 710,231 shares.
• Western Digital reported strong financial performance, with a 30% year-over-year increase in revenue and earnings per share of $1.66, beating estimates by $0.18.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.10 per share, reflecting a 0.5% dividend yield and a payout ratio of 7.77%.

Highland Peak Capital LLC raised its stake in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 235.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 710,231 shares of the data storage provider's stock after purchasing an additional 498,380 shares during the quarter. Western Digital comprises approximately 21.1% of Highland Peak Capital LLC's holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Highland Peak Capital LLC owned approximately 0.20% of Western Digital worth $28,715,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Elequin Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. Allworth Financial LP lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 34.1% during the 1st quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 955 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 1st quarter valued at $40,000. GeoWealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 91.6% during the 4th quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC now owns 1,044 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 499 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 242.2% during the 1st quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 1,208 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 855 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Western Digital Price Performance

NASDAQ:WDC opened at $75.84 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $63.24 and a 200-day moving average of $54.00. The company has a market capitalization of $26.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.73, a PEG ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.58. Western Digital Corporation has a 52 week low of $28.83 and a 52 week high of $78.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.08.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.18. Western Digital had a net margin of 14.13% and a return on equity of 24.93%. The firm had revenue of $2.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.45 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 30.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 4th. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio is 7.77%.

Western Digital announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, May 13th that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the data storage provider to buy up to 11.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on WDC. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $62.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, June 9th. Benchmark boosted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $58.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $45.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $40.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $78.74.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

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

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