Meridiem Capital Partners LP Takes Position in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Meridiem Capital Partners LP bought a new position in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 163,275 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $9,736,000.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 32.3% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 45,131 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $2,691,000 after purchasing an additional 11,013 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 841,700 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $50,191,000 after buying an additional 50,188 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 390,826 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $23,305,000 after buying an additional 15,189 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 83.9% in the 4th quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 31,634 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $1,886,000 after acquiring an additional 14,432 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 53.3% during the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 99,444 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $5,930,000 after acquiring an additional 34,579 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on WDC shares. Barclays set a $50.00 price objective on Western Digital and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities dropped their price target on shares of Western Digital from $80.00 to $53.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Western Digital from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $57.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $80.00 to $58.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Susquehanna cut their target price on Western Digital from $72.00 to $40.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Western Digital has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $64.15.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In other news, CEO Irving Tan sold 11,379 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.19, for a total transaction of $548,354.01. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 605,481 shares in the company, valued at $29,178,129.39. This trade represents a 1.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,659 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.36, for a total value of $68,616.24. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 43,776 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,810,575.36. This trade represents a 3.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 13,494 shares of company stock worth $636,747. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Western Digital Stock Up 0.5%

WDC stock traded up $0.24 on Friday, reaching $49.99. 4,951,315 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,388,638. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $55.80. The company has a market cap of $17.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.90 and a beta of 1.42. Western Digital Co. has a one year low of $28.83 and a one year high of $81.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.26.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.36 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 analysts' expectations of $2.70 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 15.68% and a net margin of 9.95%. Western Digital's revenue was down 33.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.63 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Western Digital Co. will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current 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 $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. Western Digital's payout ratio is currently 7.58%.

Western Digital declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback 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 purchase up to 11.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.