Natixis Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• Institutional investor Natixis Advisors LLC raised its stake in Western Digital by 59.5% in Q3, adding 136,424 shares to hold 365,604 shares (≈0.11%) worth about $43.9 million.
• Western Digital beat quarterly expectations with $2.13 EPS vs $1.93 estimated and $3.02 billion revenue (up 25.2% YoY); the stock has rallied and carries a MarketBeat consensus of Moderate Buy with a ~$265.58 target.
• Meanwhile, company insiders have been net sellers — notable recent sales by a director and the CEO totaled roughly $14.7 million, with insiders selling 84,277 shares (~$22.1 million) in the last 90 days and owning only 0.18% of the stock.

Natixis Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 59.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 365,604 shares of the data storage provider's stock after acquiring an additional 136,424 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.11% of Western Digital worth $43,895,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WDC. ORG Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 124.5% during 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 holdings in Western Digital by 4,070.0% in the second 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 last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 551.4% in the third quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Grove Bank & Trust bought a new stake in Western Digital in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $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.

Western Digital Trading Up 6.9%

Shares of WDC stock 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 fifty 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 current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The company has a market cap of $88.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.28, a PEG ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.75.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $3.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.93 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 41.53% and a net margin of 35.52%.Western Digital's revenue for the quarter was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.77 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 5th will be paid a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 5th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 5.02%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Argus set a $300.00 price target on Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. New Street Research set a $250.00 price objective on Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Robert W. Baird set a $310.00 price objective on Western Digital in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Loop Capital increased their target price on Western Digital to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Evercore reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, January 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $265.58.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Matthew E. Massengill sold 36,926 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.43, for a total transaction of $9,616,638.18. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.44, for a total transaction 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 $159,288,807.84. This represents a 3.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 84,277 shares of company stock valued at $22,091,068 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

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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