Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Shares Up 2.1% – Here’s What Happened
by Sarita Garza · The Markets DailyWestern Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC – Get Free Report)’s stock price traded up 2.1% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $301.35 and last traded at $301.05. 6,915,695 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 31% from the average session volume of 10,074,843 shares. The stock had previously closed at $294.79.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Western Digital to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. UBS Group set a $306.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, January 30th. Robert W. Baird set a $310.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $250.00 target price on Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Western Digital has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $265.58.
Get Our Latest Analysis on WDC
Western Digital Stock Performance
The firm’s 50 day moving average is $267.28 and its 200 day moving average is $189.04. 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 stock has a market cap of $102.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.76.
Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $3.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 35.52% and a return on equity of 41.53%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.77 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.
Western Digital Announces Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 5th were paid a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 5th. Western Digital’s payout ratio is 5.02%.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other Western Digital news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 10,148 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.31, for a total value of $2,743,105.88. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 107,794 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,137,796.14. This trade represents a 8.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Matthew E. Massengill sold 36,926 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.43, for a total value of $9,616,638.18. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 92,795 shares of company stock valued at $24,265,884. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Institutional Trading of Western Digital
Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Alps Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Western Digital by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 4,707 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $811,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Quadcap Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Quadcap Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,007 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $346,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,982 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $341,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. Bogart Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 19.4% during the fourth quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 369 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC now owns 889 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $153,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
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.