Western Digital Corporation $WDC Shares Bought by Cantor Fitzgerald L. P.

Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. grew its position in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 399.8% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 32,487 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 25,987 shares during the quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P.’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $3,900,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WDC. ORG Partners LLC boosted its stake in Western Digital by 124.5% during the 3rd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 211 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the period. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 4,070.0% in the second quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 551.4% during the third quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 204 shares during the period. Grove Bank & Trust purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the third quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Westfuller Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Western Digital in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Western Digital Stock Up 9.6%

Western Digital stock opened at $313.81 on Wednesday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $106.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.75. Western Digital Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $28.83 and a fifty-two week high of $314.92. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $259.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $182.91.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.77 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 5th will be given a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 5th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Western Digital’s payout ratio is presently 5.02%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on WDC shares. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $250.00 price objective on Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Argus set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Susquehanna reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $285.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Truist Financial set a $310.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Western Digital from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. One equities research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $265.58.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 8,518 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.32, for a total value of $2,174,815.76. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 99,276 shares in the company, valued at $25,347,148.32. This represents a 7.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 9,324 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.27, for a total transaction of $2,501,349.48. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 121,682 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,643,630.14. This trade represents a 7.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 92,795 shares of company stock worth $24,265,884 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.