State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Has $4.80 Million Holdings in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• The State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D reduced its holdings in Western Digital Corporation by 5.7%, now owning 118,799 shares valued at approximately $4.80 million.
• Western Digital recently reported earnings of $1.66 per share, exceeding analysts' expectations, while its revenue reached $2.61 billion, marking a 30% increase from the previous year.
• The company has initiated a $2 billion stock repurchase program, indicating that its board believes the stock is undervalued, alongside declaring a quarterly dividend of $0.10 per share.

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D trimmed its holdings in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 5.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 118,799 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 7,218 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D's holdings in Western Digital were worth $4,803,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the fourth quarter worth $6,365,000. Mariner LLC grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 35,044 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $2,090,000 after buying an additional 1,855 shares during the period. Guggenheim Capital LLC increased its position in Western Digital by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 14,330 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $854,000 after buying an additional 271 shares in the last quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC raised its stake in Western Digital by 91.6% during the 4th quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC now owns 1,044 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $62,000 after buying an additional 499 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP bought a new position in Western Digital in the fourth quarter worth approximately $688,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Western Digital from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $57.00 in a report on Thursday, May 1st. BNP Paribas restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $78.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $75.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $62.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, June 9th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $78.39.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 5,597 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.26, for a total transaction of $426,827.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 154,679 shares in the company, valued at $11,795,820.54. This trade represents a 3.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,729 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.88, for a total transaction of $94,887.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 40,089 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,200,084.32. The trade was a 4.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,518 shares of company stock valued at $831,479 in the last quarter. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Western Digital Price Performance

WDC opened at $76.29 on Tuesday. Western Digital Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $28.83 and a fifty-two week high of $78.80. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $67.10 and a 200 day moving average of $54.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.08. The firm has a market cap of $26.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.81, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.58.

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

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 4th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio is presently 7.77%.

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

Western Digital Company Profile

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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