Gotham Asset Management LLC Purchases 109,583 Shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Gotham Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 51.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 321,928 shares of the data storage provider's stock after purchasing an additional 109,583 shares during the period. Gotham Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.09% of Western Digital worth $19,197,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 27,666 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $1,669,000 after acquiring an additional 1,025 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 14.5% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 16,652 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $993,000 after purchasing an additional 2,112 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 12.7% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 74,957 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $4,470,000 after purchasing an additional 8,441 shares in the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 52.1% in the 4th quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 5,394 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $321,000 after buying an additional 1,847 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 195,435 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $11,654,000 after buying an additional 3,325 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,659 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.36, for a total transaction of $68,616.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 43,776 shares in the company, valued at $1,810,575.36. This trade represents a 3.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on WDC. Benchmark upgraded shares of Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $55.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Western Digital from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Western Digital in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. They issued a "hold" rating for the company. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Western Digital from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Western Digital presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $64.15.

Western Digital Price Performance

NASDAQ:WDC traded up $1.42 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $47.99. The company's stock had a trading volume of 662,708 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,343,469. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The company has a market capitalization of $16.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.42 and a beta of 1.42. Western Digital Co. has a twelve month low of $28.83 and a twelve month high of $81.55. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.03.

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

Western Digital Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.