Inceptionr LLC Sells 6,680 Shares of Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• Inceptionr LLC cut its stake in Western Digital by 43.8%, selling 6,680 shares and leaving 8,576 shares valued at approximately $1.03 million per its latest SEC filing.
• Company insiders sold heavily—including CEO Irving Tan (20,000 shares) and Director Matthew Massengill (36,926 shares)—with insiders offloading a total of 84,277 shares worth $22.09 million last quarter and now owning just 0.18% of the stock.
• Western Digital beat quarterly estimates with $2.13 EPS (vs. $1.93 expected) and revenue of $3.02 billion (up 25.2% YoY), while several analysts raised price targets up to $335 and the consensus target sits at about $265.58.

Inceptionr LLC cut its stake in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 43.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,576 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 6,680 shares during the period. Inceptionr LLC's holdings in Western Digital were worth $1,030,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ORG Partners LLC lifted its stake in Western Digital by 124.5% during the third quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 211 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 4,070.0% during the 2nd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 551.4% during the 3rd quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Grove Bank & Trust purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Westfuller Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Western Digital in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In other news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.44, for a total value of $5,108,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 623,586 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $159,288,807.84. This trade represents a 3.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Matthew E. Massengill sold 36,926 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.43, for a total transaction of $9,616,638.18. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 84,277 shares of company stock valued at $22,091,068 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of WDC stock opened at $262.06 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $88.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.28, a P/E/G ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.75. Western Digital Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $28.83 and a fifty-two week high of $309.90. The business's 50 day moving average price is $248.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $174.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.46.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.20. Western Digital had a return on equity of 41.53% and a net margin of 35.52%.The company had revenue of $3.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.77 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 5th will be issued a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 5th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio is 5.02%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Citigroup upped their target price on Western Digital to $325.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $200.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Loop Capital upped their price objective on shares of Western Digital to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Western Digital from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Western Digital from $260.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $265.58.

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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