ProShare Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 43.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 84,789 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 65,845 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC's holdings in Western Digital were worth $5,056,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Arkadios Wealth Advisors increased its stake in Western Digital by 23.0% during the 4th quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 19,954 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $1,190,000 after buying an additional 3,731 shares in the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Western Digital by 17.1% during the 4th quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,388 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $441,000 after buying an additional 1,077 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in Western Digital by 9.6% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 3,133 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $187,000 after buying an additional 274 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. increased its stake in Western Digital by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 238,429 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $14,218,000 after buying an additional 1,757 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Western Digital by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 88,252 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $5,262,000 after buying an additional 285 shares in the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Western Digital from $75.00 to $65.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Mizuho cut 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. TD Cowen cut 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. TD Securities dropped their price target on Western Digital from $80.00 to $53.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Susquehanna dropped their price target on Western Digital from $72.00 to $40.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Western Digital presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $64.15.
Get Our Latest Analysis on Western Digital
Western Digital Trading Up 1.5%
WDC opened at $50.72 on Tuesday. Western Digital Co. has a one year low of $28.83 and a one year high of $81.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.70 billion, a PE ratio of 12.08 and a beta of 1.42. The business's 50 day moving average price is $40.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $55.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.99.
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 analysts' consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.30. Western Digital had a return on equity of 15.68% and a net margin of 9.95%. The firm had revenue of ($1,465.00) million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.63 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 33.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Western Digital Co. will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.
Western Digital Cuts Dividend
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.58%.
Western Digital announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 13th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the data storage provider to repurchase up to 11.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other news, CEO Irving Tan sold 11,379 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.19, for a total transaction of $548,354.01. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 605,481 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $29,178,129.39. This represents a 1.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,659 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.36, for a total transaction of $68,616.24. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 43,776 shares in the company, valued at $1,810,575.36. This represents a 3.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 13,494 shares of company stock worth $636,747 over the last ninety days. 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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