Jain Global LLC Has $33.59 Million Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Jain Global LLC boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 203.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 279,760 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 187,436 shares during the period. Jain Global LLC’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $33,588,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Western Digital by 12.3% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 52,317 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $6,281,000 after purchasing an additional 5,731 shares during the last quarter. LBP AM SA purchased a new position in Western Digital in the third quarter valued at about $641,000. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd acquired a new position in Western Digital in the 3rd quarter worth about $34,244,000. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Western Digital in the 3rd quarter worth about $636,000. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 35.3% during the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 234,245 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $28,123,000 after purchasing an additional 61,166 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Stock Performance

WDC opened at $272.29 on Monday. 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 $92.32 billion, a PE ratio of 27.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 1.75. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $255.24 and a 200-day moving average of $179.83. Western Digital Corporation has a 52-week low of $28.83 and a 52-week high of $309.90.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.20. Western Digital had a return on equity of 41.53% and a net margin of 35.52%.The business had revenue of $3.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.77 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

WDC has been the subject of several research reports. China Renaissance initiated coverage on Western Digital in a report on Friday, December 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $193.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Western Digital from $260.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley lifted 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. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $197.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Western Digital from $200.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. One investment 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Western Digital currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $265.58.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 9,324 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.27, for a total value of $2,501,349.48. Following the transaction, the insider owned 121,682 shares in the company, valued at $32,643,630.14. This trade represents a 7.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Matthew E. Massengill sold 36,926 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.43, for a total transaction of $9,616,638.18. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 92,795 shares of company stock valued at $24,265,884 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital 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.