Tredje AP fonden Acquires 11,848 Shares of Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Tredje AP fonden lifted its stake in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 46.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 37,110 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 11,848 shares during the period. Tredje AP fonden’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $4,455,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management acquired a new position in Western Digital in the 3rd quarter valued at $6,674,000. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Western Digital in the third quarter worth $167,000. WT Asset Management Ltd acquired a new position in Western Digital in the third quarter valued at about $59,946,000. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. bought a new stake in Western Digital during the third quarter worth about $302,000. Finally, Avestar Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital during the third quarter worth about $510,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In related news, Director Matthew E. Massengill sold 36,926 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.43, for a total value of $9,616,638.18. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.44, for a total value of $5,108,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 623,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $159,288,807.84. This represents a 3.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 70,522 shares of company stock worth $17,661,708 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:WDC opened at $285.52 on Friday. Western Digital Corporation has a 52-week low of $28.83 and a 52-week high of $309.90. The company has a market capitalization of $96.80 billion, a PE ratio of 28.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.80. 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 fifty day moving average of $227.88 and a 200-day moving average of $158.98.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 41.53% and a net margin of 35.52%.Western Digital’s quarterly revenue was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.77 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS 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 issued a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 5th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 5.02%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, January 16th. Robert W. Baird set a $310.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $340.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Western Digital from $260.00 to $306.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price target on Western Digital from $200.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $265.58.

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.