Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Sets New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

Shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) hit a new 52-week high on Thursday . The company traded as high as $307.50 and last traded at $296.3750, with a volume of 3803248 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $273.74.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WDC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Western Digital from $260.00 to $306.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Western Digital from $94.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Citigroup increased their target price on Western Digital to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Bank of America lifted their price target on Western Digital from $197.00 to $257.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $340.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Western Digital presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $265.58.

Western Digital Price Performance

The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $212.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $148.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.19 billion, a PE ratio of 29.64, a PEG ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.80.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $3.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 35.52% and a return on equity of 41.53%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.77 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 5th will be given a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 5th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 5.02%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Western Digital news, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 1,768 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.00, for a total transaction of $272,272.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,585 shares in the company, valued at approximately $552,090. This represents a 33.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Roxanne Oulman sold 1,800 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.42, for a total transaction of $277,956.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $596,524.46. This represents a 31.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 70,522 shares of company stock worth $17,661,708 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. WCM Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 3rd quarter valued at about $791,317,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Western Digital during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $788,729,000. Fred Alger Management LLC raised its position in Western Digital by 4,923.9% in the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 3,407,042 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $409,049,000 after acquiring an additional 3,339,225 shares during the period. Soroban Capital Partners LP boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 1,926.3% during the 2nd quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,061,134 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $195,882,000 after acquiring an additional 2,910,062 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Polar Capital Holdings Plc bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 3rd quarter valued at $221,800,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Western Digital Company Profile

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.