Western Digital Corporation $WDC Shares Sold by Prospera Financial Services Inc

Key Points

• Prospera Financial Services cut its stake in Western Digital by 33.7% in the fourth quarter, selling 13,004 shares and leaving it with 25,575 shares valued at about $4.4 million.
• Western Digital reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $2.72 versus $2.39 expected and revenue of $3.34 billion, up 45.5% year over year.
• The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.15 per share from $0.13, while analysts remain generally positive with an average rating of Moderate Buy and a $395.83 target price.

Prospera Financial Services Inc lessened its stake in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 33.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 25,575 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 13,004 shares during the quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc's holdings in Western Digital were worth $4,406,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WDC. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its stake in Western Digital by 4,070.0% during the second quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. increased its stake in Western Digital by 551.4% during the third quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Westfuller Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital during the third quarter worth $30,000. Avion Wealth increased its stake in Western Digital by 163.8% during the fourth quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cornerstone Planning Group LLC increased its stake in Western Digital by 207.0% during the third quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 264 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Western Digital Price Performance

WDC opened at $484.28 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $377.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $271.52. The company has a market cap of $166.92 billion, a PE ratio of 28.91 and a beta of 2.10. Western Digital Corporation has a 52 week low of $49.00 and a 52 week high of $525.15.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.The firm had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.36 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. This is an increase from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Western Digital's payout ratio is currently 2.99%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WDC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Weiss Ratings upgraded Western Digital from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Barclays raised their price target on Western Digital from $405.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Western Digital from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $340.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. Finally, Truist Financial set a $310.00 target price on Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $395.83.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 4,674 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $443.19, for a total value of $2,071,470.06. Following the sale, the insider owned 90,041 shares in the company, valued at $39,905,270.79. This represents a 4.93% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total value of $8,236,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 598,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $246,342,096. The trade was a 3.24% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 53,347 shares of company stock worth $17,974,293 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Western Digital Profile

Western Digital Corporation is a global data storage company that designs, manufactures and sells a broad range of storage devices and systems for personal, enterprise and cloud applications. Headquartered in San Jose, California, the company develops hard disk drives (HDDs), solid-state drives (SSDs), NAND flash components and finished storage products used in PCs, external storage, servers, network-attached storage (NAS) and embedded systems.

Its product portfolio spans consumer and commercial markets, including internal and external HDDs and SSDs, removable flash memory products and storage platforms for data center and enterprise environments.

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