Western Digital Corporation $WDC Stock: Maxi Investments CY Ltd Grows Stake

Maxi Investments CY Ltd raised its stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 121.9% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 7,100 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,900 shares during the period. Maxi Investments CY Ltd’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $3,227,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Leslie Global Wealth LLC boosted its position in Western Digital by 8.0% during the third quarter. Leslie Global Wealth LLC now owns 569 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $259,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. WealthCare Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Western Digital in the third quarter valued at about $729,000. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Western Digital by 143.0% in the third quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC now owns 3,147 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,430,000 after purchasing an additional 1,852 shares in the last quarter. VUB Generali dochodkova spravcovska spolocnost a.s. bought a new position in Western Digital in the third quarter worth about $384,000. Finally, RD Finance Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the third quarter valued at about $4,729,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Western Digital Trading Up 3.6%

WDC opened at $356.13 on Tuesday. Western Digital Corporation has a 12-month low of $121.85 and a 12-month high of $799.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $133.31 billion, a PE ratio of 13.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 2.11. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $429.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $413.05.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The data storage provider reported $4.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.11 by $0.53. The company had revenue of $4.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.14 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 55.62% and a net margin of 69.20%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 55.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.78 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 4th will be issued a $0.1750 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 4th. This is an increase from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is 2.33%.

Western Digital News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Western Digital this week:

• Positive Sentiment: A Bank of America note said memory customers are locking in supply for multiple years, lifting the broader memory and storage group. Western Digital benefited alongside Micron and SanDisk as investors anticipated stronger pricing and demand. Bank of America memory-market article
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital CEO Irving Tan said AI-related storage demand could grow about 25% annually and expressed confidence that the company can expand margins despite data-center cost concerns. Western Digital CEO AI-demand article
• Positive Sentiment: The company raised its quarterly dividend by 16.7% following strong fiscal first-quarter results, reinforcing the case for improving cash generation. Western Digital dividend increase article
• Positive Sentiment: Argus maintained a Buy rating despite lowering its price target to $500, while several bullish analyses cited strong earnings, robust cloud demand and favorable storage pricing. Argus Western Digital rating

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on WDC. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $660.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 17th. Wedbush increased their target price on shares of Western Digital from $540.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Western Digital from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $625.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Western Digital currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $591.04.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 1,795 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.87, for a total transaction of $825,466.65. Following the sale, the insider owned 80,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,052,185.77. The trade was a 2.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.97, for a total transaction of $8,899,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 575,966 shares in the company, valued at $256,287,591.02. The trade was a 3.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 25,436 shares of company stock valued at $11,340,064 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Profile

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: WDC) is a data storage technology company that develops and manufactures hard disk drives (HDDs) and related storage solutions. Its products are used in data centers, cloud infrastructure, enterprise systems, personal computers, gaming platforms and external storage devices.

The company offers HDD-based products for business and consumer applications, including high-capacity drives designed for hyperscale and cloud data centers, enterprise storage environments, network-attached storage systems and personal computing.