Smartleaf Asset Management LLC Acquires 1,896 Shares of Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 146.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,188 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,896 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $372,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. SYM FINANCIAL Corp purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at $225,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 12.3% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 52,317 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $6,281,000 after acquiring an additional 5,731 shares during the period. LBP AM SA acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 3rd quarter valued at about $641,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 9.6% in the second quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 30,434 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,938,000 after purchasing an additional 2,656 shares during the period. Finally, Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in Western Digital by 7.1% during the second quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 118,888 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $7,594,000 after purchasing an additional 7,913 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 1,768 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.00, for a total value of $272,272.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,585 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $552,090. The trade was a 33.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Matthew E. Massengill sold 36,926 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.43, for a total value of $9,616,638.18. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 70,522 shares of company stock worth $17,661,708. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of WDC stock opened at $273.74 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $212.21 and a two-hundred day moving average of $148.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $92.81 billion, a PE ratio of 27.46, a P/E/G ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.80. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. Western Digital Corporation has a 52 week low of $28.83 and a 52 week high of $296.50.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted 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%.The company’s revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.77 earnings per share. On average, research 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 5th will be issued a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 is presently 5.02%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on WDC. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Western Digital from $200.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. New Street Research set a $250.00 target price on Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Truist Financial set a $310.00 price target on Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on shares of Western Digital to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Western Digital to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Western Digital currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $265.58.

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.