Silvant Capital Management LLC Invests $36.80 Million in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Silvant Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 57,622 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $36,805,000. Western Digital makes up approximately 1.1% of Silvant Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest position.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its stake in Western Digital by 4,070.0% in the 2nd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the second quarter valued at $28,000. Dunhill Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Gables Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Western Digital during the second quarter worth $32,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Western Digital Price Performance

WDC opened at $469.05 on Friday. Western Digital Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $74.42 and a fifty-two week high of $799.87. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $554.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $433.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $161.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.37 and a beta of 2.14.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.31 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.70 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 72.95% and a return on equity of 48.15%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 43.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.66 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.65 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. Western Digital’s payout ratio is currently 2.48%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the company’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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 575,966 shares in the company, valued at $256,287,591.02. This represents a 3.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total value of $396,390.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,903 shares in the company, valued at $2,062,813.56. The trade was a 16.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 24,679 shares of company stock worth $11,451,605 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on WDC. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Western Digital from $610.00 to $732.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Zacks Research upgraded Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their target price on Western Digital from $660.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Western Digital from $800.00 to $740.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Western Digital from $530.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Western Digital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $534.56.

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.