Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) SVP Gene M. Zamiska Sells 1,729 Shares

Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,729 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.88, for a total transaction of $94,887.52. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 40,089 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,200,084.32. The trade was a 4.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Western Digital Stock Performance

WDC traded up $0.40 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $55.45. The company had a trading volume of 5,948,047 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,434,266. Western Digital Co. has a 12-month low of $28.83 and a 12-month high of $81.55. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $43.21 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $54.29. The stock has a market cap of $19.35 billion, a PE ratio of 13.20 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.99.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last issued its 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 firm had revenue of ($1,465.00) million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 15.68% and a net margin of 9.95%. The business's revenue was down 33.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.63 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Western Digital Co. will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, May 13th that authorizes the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the data storage provider to reacquire up to 11.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Western Digital Cuts Dividend

The firm 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 yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.58%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on WDC shares. Barclays set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. BNP Paribas reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on Western Digital from $82.00 to $68.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. UBS Group raised their target price on Western Digital from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Western Digital from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $57.00 in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $63.84.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in WDC. Norges Bank bought a new position in Western Digital in the 4th quarter worth about $352,572,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 130.0% in the first quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 5,029,359 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $203,337,000 after buying an additional 2,842,822 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 107.1% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 3,369,331 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $136,222,000 after acquiring an additional 1,742,481 shares during the period. AMF Tjanstepension AB bought a new position in shares of Western Digital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $94,181,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Western Digital by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,459,767 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $2,531,876,000 after acquiring an additional 1,439,149 shares in the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Western Digital

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.

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