Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Shares Down 3.4% After Insider Selling

Key Points

• Western Digital shares fell 3.4% after insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold a total of 652 shares over Feb. 23–26 (about $185k), modestly trimming her stake by roughly 0.1–0.2%.
• Several analysts raised targets—Wells Fargo to $335 and Morgan Stanley to $306—leaving MarketBeat’s consensus rating at “Moderate Buy” with an average price target of $265.58.
• The company recently reported an earnings beat (EPS $2.13 vs. $1.93 expected) with revenue up 25.2% year-over-year, and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.125 (ex-dividend March 5).

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report)'s stock price was down 3.4% on Monday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $261.50 and last traded at $270.08. Approximately 7,347,094 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 30% from the average daily volume of 10,520,979 shares. The stock had previously closed at $279.70.

Specifically, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 214 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.11, for a total transaction of $61,227.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 133,781 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,276,081.91. This trade represents a 0.16% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 308 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.70, for a total transaction of $86,763.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 134,759 shares in the company, valued at $37,961,610.30. This trade represents a 0.23% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In other news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 130 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.83, for a total transaction of $36,897.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 135,067 shares of the company's stock, valued at $38,336,066.61. This trade represents a 0.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on WDC shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Western Digital from $260.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Argus set a $300.00 price objective on Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Bank of America increased their price objective on Western Digital from $197.00 to $257.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $260.00 to $306.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, New Street Research set a $250.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $265.58.

Western Digital Stock Down 3.4%

The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $238.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $166.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.46. The company has a market cap of $91.57 billion, a PE ratio of 27.09, a PEG ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.75.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.20. Western Digital had a net margin of 35.52% and a return on equity of 41.53%. The business had revenue of $3.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.77 EPS. The company's revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 5th. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio is presently 5.02%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDC. ORG Partners LLC increased its stake in Western Digital by 124.5% during the third quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 211 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its position in Western Digital by 4,070.0% during the 2nd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC raised its holdings in Western Digital by 86.9% in the second quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 441 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 205 shares during the period. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. lifted its position in Western Digital by 551.4% during the third quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Grove Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in Western Digital during the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company's stock.

About Western Digital

Western Digital Corporation is a global data storage company that designs, manufactures and sells a broad range of storage devices and systems for personal, enterprise and cloud applications. Headquartered in San Jose, California, the company develops hard disk drives (HDDs), solid-state drives (SSDs), NAND flash components and finished storage products used in PCs, external storage, servers, network-attached storage (NAS) and embedded systems.

Its product portfolio spans consumer and commercial markets, including internal and external HDDs and SSDs, removable flash memory products and storage platforms for data center and enterprise environments.

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