Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Trading Up 1.6% – Here’s Why

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)’s stock price was up 1.6% on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $280.75 and last traded at $266.22. Approximately 8,454,592 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 18% from the average daily volume of 10,262,727 shares. The stock had previously closed at $262.06.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on WDC shares. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $250.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $200.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. 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. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $260.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 21st. One 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, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $265.58.

Western Digital Stock Performance

The company’s 50-day moving average is $248.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $174.53. 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 company has a market cap of $90.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.75.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.20. Western Digital had a net margin of 35.52% and a return on equity of 41.53%. The business had revenue of $3.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.77 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 10,148 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $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 is available through this link. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 9,324 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the insider owned 121,682 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,643,630.14. The trade was a 7.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 84,277 shares of company stock valued at $22,091,068 in the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WDC. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in Western Digital by 7.7% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 41,988 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,698,000 after buying an additional 3,019 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 229.7% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,388 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 967 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital in the second quarter valued at $307,000. Atria Investments Inc bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter valued at $286,000. Finally, Moors & Cabot Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter valued at $231,000. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.