Woodline Partners LP Buys 61,702 Shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Woodline Partners LP boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 158.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 100,610 shares of the data storage provider's stock after buying an additional 61,702 shares during the quarter. Woodline Partners LP's holdings in Western Digital were worth $5,999,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mather Group LLC. raised its stake in Western Digital by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 2,416 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $144,000 after buying an additional 159 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 11,804 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $704,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas lifted its stake in Western Digital by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas now owns 26,415 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $1,575,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC lifted its stake in Western Digital by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 4,324 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $258,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Beta Wealth Group Inc. lifted its stake in Western Digital by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Beta Wealth Group Inc. now owns 8,300 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $495,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In related news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,659 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.36, for a total value of $68,616.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 43,776 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,810,575.36. This represents a 3.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 11,379 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.19, for a total transaction of $548,354.01. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 605,481 shares of the company's stock, valued at $29,178,129.39. This represents a 1.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 13,494 shares of company stock worth $636,747. Insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Barclays set a $50.00 target price on Western Digital and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Western Digital from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $57.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Western Digital from $75.00 to $65.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup cut their target price on Western Digital from $64.00 to $48.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $82.00 to $68.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Western Digital has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $64.95.

Western Digital Stock Up 3.3%

Shares of WDC traded up $1.64 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $51.82. The company had a trading volume of 6,374,412 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,417,895. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.99. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $41.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $54.78. Western Digital Co. has a 52 week low of $28.83 and a 52 week high of $81.55. The company has a market capitalization of $18.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.34 and a beta of 1.42.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.30. Western Digital had a net margin of 9.95% and a return on equity of 15.68%. The company had revenue of ($1,465.00) million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.63 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 33.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Western Digital Co. will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 13th that authorizes the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the data storage provider to reacquire up to 11.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Western Digital Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.77%. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio is presently 7.58%.

Western Digital Profile

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.