PARUS FINANCE UK Ltd Sells 85,711 Shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)

Key Points

• PARUS FINANCE UK Ltd reduced its stake in Western Digital Corporation by 71.6% in the first quarter, now holding 33,950 shares valued at $1,373,000, which makes it the company's 20th largest position.
• Several institutional investors, including Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC, have increased their holdings in Western Digital, with some boosting their stake by over 50%.
• Western Digital recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.10 per share, with a current dividend yield of 0.5%, and initiated a share buyback plan authorizing up to $2.00 billion in repurchases.

PARUS FINANCE UK Ltd lowered its stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 71.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 33,950 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 85,711 shares during the period. Western Digital accounts for 0.5% of PARUS FINANCE UK Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position. PARUS FINANCE UK Ltd's holdings in Western Digital were worth $1,373,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WDC. Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 34.1% in the 1st quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 955 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 243 shares during the period. Elequin Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Western Digital during the 1st quarter worth approximately $40,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 242.2% during the 1st quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 1,208 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 855 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GeoWealth Management LLC boosted its position in Western Digital by 91.6% in the 4th quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC now owns 1,044 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 499 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Irving Tan sold 11,379 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.19, for a total transaction of $548,354.01. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 605,481 shares of the company's stock, valued at $29,178,129.39. This trade represents a 1.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,729 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.88, for a total transaction of $94,887.52. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 40,089 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,200,084.32. This represents a 4.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 13,353 shares of company stock valued at $657,454 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WDC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $45.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. TD Securities reduced their price target on shares of Western Digital from $80.00 to $53.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Mizuho raised their price objective on Western Digital from $75.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on Western Digital from $53.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Western Digital from $50.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $78.74.

Western Digital Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WDC traded down $2.06 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $73.78. 6,992,485 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,400,805. Western Digital Corporation has a twelve month low of $28.83 and a twelve month high of $78.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.33, a P/E/G ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.58. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $63.67 and a 200 day moving average of $54.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.18. Western Digital had a return on equity of 24.93% and a net margin of 14.13%. The business had revenue of $2.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. Western Digital's quarterly revenue was up 30.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, May 13th that permits the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the data storage provider to buy up to 11.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 4th. Western Digital's payout ratio is currently 7.77%.

About Western Digital

Western Digital Corporation develops, manufactures, and sells data storage devices and solutions in the United States, China, Hong Kong, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, rest of Asia, and internationally. It offers client devices, including hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid state drives (SSDs) for desktop and notebook personal computers (PCs), gaming consoles, and set top boxes; and flash-based embedded storage products for mobile phones, tablets, notebook PCs, and other portable and wearable devices, as well as automotive, Internet of Things, industrial, and connected home applications.