Western Digital Corporation $WDC Stock Holdings Lessened by WINTON GROUP Ltd

Key Points

• WINTON GROUP Ltd cut its stake in Western Digital by 85.6% in Q3, selling 127,547 shares and ending the period with 21,391 shares worth $2.568 million.
• Western Digital posted a strong quarter, reporting $2.13 EPS (vs. $1.93 expected) and $3.02 billion in revenue (vs. $2.93 billion), with revenue up 25.2% year‑over‑year and a 35.52% net margin.
• Insider activity shows notable selling—CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares (~$5.1M) and Director Matthew Massengill sold 36,926 shares (~$9.6M), with insiders offloading about 92,795 shares (~$24.27M) over the past 90 days.

WINTON GROUP Ltd lessened its holdings in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 85.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,391 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 127,547 shares during the period. WINTON GROUP Ltd's holdings in Western Digital were worth $2,568,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. ORG Partners LLC boosted its stake in Western Digital by 124.5% in the third quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 211 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the period. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 4,070.0% during the 2nd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares during the period. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 551.4% during the 3rd quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the period. Grove Bank & Trust bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Westfuller Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Western Digital during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Western Digital Stock Performance

WDC stock opened at $266.22 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $90.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.70, a PEG ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.76. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $249.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $175.86. Western Digital Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $28.83 and a fifty-two week high of $309.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.46 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 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.20. Western Digital had a net margin of 35.52% and a return on equity of 41.53%. The firm had revenue of $3.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.77 EPS. Western Digital's quarterly revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.125 per share. 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 (DPR) is currently 5.02%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WDC has been the topic of several analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on Western Digital to $325.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. New Street Research set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $197.00 to $257.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Evercore restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Finally, UBS Group set a $306.00 price target on Western Digital in a report on Friday, January 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Western Digital presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $265.58.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.44, for a total transaction of $5,108,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 623,586 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $159,288,807.84. This trade represents a 3.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Matthew E. Massengill sold 36,926 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.43, for a total value of $9,616,638.18. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 92,795 shares of company stock worth $24,265,884 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

About Western Digital

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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