Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Sells 62,031 Shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. reduced its position in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 7.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 779,669 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 62,031 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned about 0.22% of Western Digital worth $31,522,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in WDC. BNP Paribas lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas now owns 26,415 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $1,575,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,817 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $228,000 after acquiring an additional 207 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 19.8% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,385 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $89,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares in the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 19,124 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $1,140,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,309 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $197,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Irving Tan sold 11,379 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.19, for a total value of $548,354.01. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 605,481 shares in the company, valued at $29,178,129.39. The trade was a 1.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,729 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.88, for a total transaction of $94,887.52. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 40,089 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,200,084.32. This represents a 4.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 13,353 shares of company stock worth $657,454 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WDC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Western Digital from $62.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Wall Street Zen started coverage on Western Digital in a report on Friday, May 2nd. They set a "hold" rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Western Digital from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $57.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Mizuho dropped their target price on Western Digital from $82.00 to $68.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Western Digital from $70.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Western Digital has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $63.79.

Western Digital Trading Up 0.2%

NASDAQ WDC traded up $0.12 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $65.90. 5,162,095 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,535,780. The stock has a market cap of $22.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.48 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.56 and a quick ratio of 1.31. Western Digital Corporation has a one year low of $28.83 and a one year high of $80.38. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $52.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $53.01.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.30. Western Digital had a return on equity of 20.58% and a net margin of 13.33%. The firm had revenue of ($1,465.00) million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.63 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was down 33.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, May 13th that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the data storage provider to repurchase up to 11.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Western Digital Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th were paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 4th. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.58%.

Western Digital 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.