NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC Buys 4,068 Shares of Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• NorthCrest Asset Management raised its stake in Western Digital by 75.4%, buying 4,068 shares to hold 9,465 shares worth about $1.78 million, while institutional investors now own 92.51% of the company.
• Insiders have been net sellers: 92,795 shares worth roughly $24.27 million were sold over the past 90 days, including Vidyadhara K. Gubbi and Cynthia L. Tregillis, who each sold about 10k shares at ~\$270.
• Analysts show a Moderate Buy consensus with an average target of \$265.58 (individual targets range up to \$340), and Western Digital recently beat Q4 estimates with EPS \$2.13 vs. \$1.93 and revenue \$3.02B vs. \$2.93B.

NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC increased its stake in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 75.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,465 shares of the data storage provider's stock after acquiring an additional 4,068 shares during the period. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC's holdings in Western Digital were worth $1,778,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in Western Digital by 7.7% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 41,988 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $1,698,000 after purchasing an additional 3,019 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 229.7% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,388 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 967 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter valued at about $307,000. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 48.9% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 45,112 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $2,887,000 after purchasing an additional 14,809 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prudential PLC purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter valued at about $666,000. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $325.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Monday, February 9th. China Renaissance began coverage on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, December 5th. They set a "buy" rating and a $193.00 price target on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $250.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $340.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Evercore reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, January 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $265.58.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Western Digital news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 10,148 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.31, for a total value of $2,743,105.88. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 107,794 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,137,796.14. This trade represents a 8.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 9,324 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.27, for a total value of $2,501,349.48. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 121,682 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,643,630.14. This represents a 7.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 92,795 shares of company stock worth $24,265,884. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Western Digital Price Performance

WDC opened at $294.79 on Tuesday. 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 stock's 50 day simple moving average is $267.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $189.04. The firm has a market cap of $99.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.57, a PEG ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.76. Western Digital Corporation has a 1 year low of $28.83 and a 1 year high of $319.62.

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

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 5th were issued a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 5th. Western Digital's payout ratio is currently 5.02%.

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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