Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Purchases Shares of 44,903 Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group initiated a new position in Western Digital, buying 44,903 shares in Q3 valued at about $5.39 million according to its Form 13F filing.
• Western Digital beat expectations for the quarter with EPS of $2.13 vs. $1.93 expected and revenue of $3.02 billion (up 25.2% year-over-year), reporting strong profitability metrics (net margin 35.52%, ROE 41.53%).
• Insiders have been net sellers—including CEO Irving Tan’s sale of 20,000 shares—with 84,277 insider shares sold (~$22.09M) in the last 90 days, even as analysts remain largely bullish with a consensus "Moderate Buy" rating and an average price target near $265.58.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 44,903 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $5,391,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WDC. ORG Partners LLC increased its stake in Western Digital by 124.5% in the third quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 211 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its stake in 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 buying an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. boosted its stake in Western Digital by 551.4% in the 3rd quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Grove Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Westfuller Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Western Digital Stock Up 6.9%

WDC opened at $262.06 on Tuesday. Western Digital Corporation has a 1 year low of $28.83 and a 1 year high of $309.90. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $248.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $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. The company has a market cap of $88.85 billion, a PE ratio of 26.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.75.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.20. Western Digital had a net margin of 35.52% and a return on equity of 41.53%. The firm had revenue of $3.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.77 earnings per share. Western Digital's revenue was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 5th will be paid a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 5th. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 5.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.44, for a total value of $5,108,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 623,586 shares of the company's stock, valued at $159,288,807.84. This trade represents a 3.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 9,324 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.27, for a total value of $2,501,349.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 121,682 shares in the company, valued at $32,643,630.14. This trade represents a 7.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 84,277 shares of company stock worth $22,091,068. Insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WDC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. China Renaissance assumed coverage on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, December 5th. They set a "buy" rating and a $193.00 price objective on the stock. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $325.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Monday, February 9th. UBS Group set a $306.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Western Digital from $260.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $260.00 to $306.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $265.58.

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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