Hilltop Holdings Inc. Trims Stake in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Hilltop Holdings Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 71.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,193 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 5,566 shares during the quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc.'s holdings in Western Digital were worth $593,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of WDC. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 4,070.0% in the 2nd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares during the period. Avion Wealth lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 163.8% in the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 1st quarter worth about $32,000. Swiss RE Ltd. acquired a new stake in Western Digital during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, BOKF NA increased its position in Western Digital by 6,700.0% during the 3rd quarter. BOKF NA now owns 272 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Western Digital Price Performance

WDC opened at $497.92 on Tuesday. Western Digital Corporation has a 12-month low of $68.67 and a 12-month high of $799.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $171.62 billion, a PE ratio of 29.73 and a beta of 2.11. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $565.69 and its 200 day moving average price is $400.49.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.36 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th were issued a $0.15 dividend. This is an increase from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio is presently 3.58%.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In related news, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total transaction of $396,390.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 3,903 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,062,813.56. This represents a 16.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $545.60, for a total transaction of $235,699.20. Following the sale, the insider owned 116,643 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $63,640,420.80. The trade was a 0.37% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 28,959 shares of company stock worth $12,631,666. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Evercore reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $575.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on shares of Western Digital from $660.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Western Digital from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. UBS Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $560.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $520.32.

About Western Digital

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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