VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Purchases Shares of 117,100 Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• The Virginia Retirement Systems purchased 117,100 shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC), valued at approximately $7.49 million, indicating institutional confidence in the data storage provider.
• Western Digital announced a quarterly dividend of $0.10 per share, with an annualized dividend yield of 0.3%, and reported a net margin of 14.13% with earnings of $1.78 per share for its last quarter.
• A number of institutional investors, including Deutsche Bank and Alyeska Investment Group, significantly increased their stakes in Western Digital, highlighting growing interest from hedge funds in the company.

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new stake in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 117,100 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $7,493,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WDC. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 130.0% in the 1st quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 5,029,359 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $203,337,000 after purchasing an additional 2,842,822 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 107.1% in the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 3,369,331 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $136,222,000 after purchasing an additional 1,742,481 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new stake in Western Digital in the 1st quarter valued at $50,897,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP bought a new stake in Western Digital in the 1st quarter valued at $35,406,000. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec bought a new stake in Western Digital in the 1st quarter valued at $22,849,000. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Western Digital Trading Down 3.7%

Shares of WDC stock opened at $121.53 on Tuesday. Western Digital Corporation has a 12-month low of $28.83 and a 12-month high of $137.40. The company has a market capitalization of $41.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.77. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $100.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $70.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 7th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter. Western Digital had a net margin of 14.13% and a return on equity of 24.93%. The firm had revenue of $4.10 billion during the quarter. Research analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 4th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 4th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Western Digital's payout ratio is currently 7.77%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 11,343 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.29, for a total transaction of $1,024,159.47. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 151,596 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,687,602.84. This represents a 6.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 8,621 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.90, for a total transaction of $654,333.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 594,836 shares of the company's stock, valued at $45,148,052.40. This represents a 1.43% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 49,730 shares of company stock worth $3,921,594 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $78.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $95.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. Loop Capital raised their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $92.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $85.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $120.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $108.65.

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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