Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its stake in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 167.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 55,080 shares of the data storage provider's stock after purchasing an additional 34,510 shares during the quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP's holdings in Western Digital were worth $3,284,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mufg Securities Americas Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 4th quarter worth about $304,000. Man Group plc boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 31.6% during the 4th quarter. Man Group plc now owns 360,274 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $21,483,000 after acquiring an additional 86,580 shares in the last quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV now owns 42,530 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $2,582,000 after acquiring an additional 2,595 shares in the last quarter. NWI Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 4th quarter worth about $21,467,000. Finally, OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 20.4% during the 4th quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 13,604 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $811,000 after acquiring an additional 2,309 shares in the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
Several research firms have recently weighed in on WDC. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Benchmark raised Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $55.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Western Digital from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Western Digital from $80.00 to $58.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price objective on Western Digital from $82.00 to $68.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $64.95.
Get Our Latest Analysis on WDC
Western Digital Trading Up 0.7%
Shares of Western Digital stock traded up $0.34 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $50.18. 5,762,727 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,418,071. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.95 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a fifty day moving average of $41.46 and a 200-day moving average of $54.91. Western Digital Co. has a 52-week low of $28.83 and a 52-week high of $81.55.
Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.30. Western Digital had a return on equity of 15.68% and a net margin of 9.95%. The company had revenue of ($1,465.00) million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.63 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down 33.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Western Digital Co. will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Western Digital Cuts Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. Western Digital's payout ratio is 7.58%.
Western Digital announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, May 13th that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the data storage provider to reacquire up to 11.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other Western Digital news, CEO Irving Tan sold 11,379 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.19, for a total value of $548,354.01. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 605,481 shares in the company, valued at $29,178,129.39. The trade was a 1.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,659 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.36, for a total value of $68,616.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 43,776 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,810,575.36. The trade was a 3.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 13,494 shares of company stock worth $636,747. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.
About Western Digital
(
Free Report)
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.
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