Western Digital Corporation $WDC Shares Sold by Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Richard Bernstein Advisors cut its stake in Western Digital by 53.8% in Q3, selling 21,131 shares and retaining 18,160 shares valued at about $2.18 million.
• Western Digital beat Q results with $2.13 EPS vs. $1.93 expected and revenue of $3.02 billion (up 25.2% YoY), and the stock was trading up roughly 6.9% following the report.
• Company insiders have been net sellers (84,277 shares worth ~$22.1 million over the last three months), institutional ownership is high at 92.51%, and analysts hold a consensus "Moderate Buy" with an average target of about $265.58.

Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 53.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,160 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 21,131 shares during the period. Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC's holdings in Western Digital were worth $2,180,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Western Digital by 0.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,282,393 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $5,196,484,000 after purchasing an additional 243,177 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 2.0% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,305,289 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $593,045,000 after buying an additional 186,030 shares during the period. WCM Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Western Digital during the 3rd quarter worth about $791,317,000. Holocene Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 5,535,972 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $354,247,000 after buying an additional 431,419 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 11.8% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,804,907 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $456,737,000 after acquiring an additional 402,981 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Western Digital Trading Up 6.9%

Shares of Western Digital stock opened at $262.06 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.85 billion, a PE ratio of 26.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.75. Western Digital Corporation has a 52-week low of $28.83 and a 52-week high of $309.90. The company's fifty day moving average price is $248.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $174.53.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.20. Western Digital had a return on equity of 41.53% and a net margin of 35.52%.The company had revenue of $3.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.77 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 5th will be issued a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 5th. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio is presently 5.02%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the company. New Street Research set a $250.00 target price on Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Evercore reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $230.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $325.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Truist Financial set a $310.00 price target on Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Western Digital from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Western Digital has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $265.58.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In other news, Director Matthew E. Massengill sold 36,926 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.43, for a total transaction of $9,616,638.18. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 10,148 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.31, for a total transaction of $2,743,105.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 107,794 shares in the company, valued at $29,137,796.14. This trade represents a 8.60% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 84,277 shares of company stock valued at $22,091,068 over the last three months. 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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