Western Digital Corporation $WDC Shares Sold by Swiss National Bank

Key Points

• Swiss National Bank trimmed its position in Western Digital by 3.9% in Q3, selling 40,800 shares and leaving it with 1,005,707 shares (0.29% of the company) valued at about $120.7 million.
• Company insiders have been net sellers, disposing of 92,795 shares worth $24.27 million over the past 90 days, including CEO Irving Tan (20,000 shares, ~$5.11M) and a director (36,926 shares, ~$9.62M); insiders now own 0.18% of the stock.
• Fundamentals and sentiment: Western Digital beat Q results (EPS $2.13 vs. $1.93; revenue $3.02B vs. $2.93B), and analysts have raised targets, leaving a consensus rating of Moderate Buy with an average target of $265.58.

Swiss National Bank reduced its stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,005,707 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 40,800 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned 0.29% of Western Digital worth $120,745,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Pinpoint Asset Management Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,814,000. LGT Group Foundation grew its position in Western Digital by 330.6% during the third quarter. LGT Group Foundation now owns 175,517 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $22,921,000 after buying an additional 134,760 shares during the period. Aull & Monroe Investment Management Corp purchased a new position in Western Digital in the third quarter valued at $240,000. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its holdings in Western Digital by 74.1% in the third quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 121,000 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $14,527,000 after buying an additional 51,504 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital in the third quarter worth about $5,391,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.44, for a total value of $5,108,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 623,586 shares in the company, valued at approximately $159,288,807.84. This represents a 3.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Matthew E. Massengill sold 36,926 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.43, for a total transaction of $9,616,638.18. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 92,795 shares of company stock valued at $24,265,884 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on WDC. Evercore restated an "outperform" rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Bank of America increased their price target on Western Digital from $197.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Western Digital from $200.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on Western Digital to $325.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on Western Digital to $340.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $265.58.

Western Digital Price Performance

NASDAQ:WDC opened at $266.22 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $249.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $175.86. Western Digital Corporation has a 12 month low of $28.83 and a 12 month high of $309.90. The firm has a market cap of $90.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.76. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.20. Western Digital had a return on equity of 41.53% and a net margin of 35.52%.The business had revenue of $3.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.77 earnings per share. The business'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 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 5th will be given 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 is Thursday, March 5th. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio is 5.02%.

Western Digital Company 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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