Northern Trust Corp Has $202.60 Million Stock Holdings in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 16.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,397,671 shares of the data storage provider's stock after buying an additional 478,269 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp owned about 0.98% of Western Digital worth $202,603,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WDC. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $183,000. Tidal Investments LLC raised its holdings in Western Digital by 123.5% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 41,028 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $2,802,000 after purchasing an additional 22,670 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp raised its holdings in Western Digital by 20.0% in the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 9,562 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $653,000 after purchasing an additional 1,591 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 9.3% during the third quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 3,745 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $252,000 after purchasing an additional 319 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 278.9% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 413 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 304 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on WDC. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Western Digital from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays lowered their target price on Western Digital from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Western Digital from $82.00 to $68.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Susquehanna dropped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $72.00 to $40.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Thursday. Four 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, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $65.65.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In related news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,659 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 43,776 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,810,575.36. The trade was a 3.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Western Digital Stock Performance

WDC traded up $0.34 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $45.03. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,521,431 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,337,097. 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 company's 50-day moving average is $40.46 and its 200-day moving average is $56.98. Western Digital Co. has a 52 week low of $28.83 and a 52 week high of $81.55. The firm has a market cap of $15.66 billion, a PE ratio of 10.72 and a beta of 1.42.

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

Western Digital Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. Western Digital's payout ratio 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.