Western Digital Corporation $WDC Stock: National Wealth Management Group LLC Lowers Holdings

National Wealth Management Group LLC cut its stake in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 40.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,931 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 2,017 shares during the quarter. National Wealth Management Group LLC’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $1,332,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WDC. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 28.6% in the second quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 90 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 2,302 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,470,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the period. Everpar Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC now owns 1,442 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $921,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Ares Financial Consulting LLC lifted its position in Western Digital by 45.5% during the 2nd quarter. Ares Financial Consulting LLC now owns 80 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC lifted its position in Western Digital by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 1,390 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $888,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on WDC shares. Argus decreased their price target on Western Digital from $600.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Mizuho set a $490.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their target price on shares of Western Digital from $900.00 to $625.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Western Digital from $740.00 to $660.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $730.00 to $450.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $591.04.

More Western Digital News

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

Western Digital Stock Performance

WDC opened at $356.13 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $133.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.82, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 2.11. The company has a 50-day moving average of $429.95 and a 200-day moving average of $413.05. Western Digital Corporation has a 1-year low of $121.85 and a 1-year high of $799.87.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The data storage provider reported $4.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.11 by $0.53. The business had revenue of $4.38 billion during 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 company’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 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.1750 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 payout ratio is currently 2.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Western Digital news, insider Vidyadhara Gubbi sold 1,795 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.87, for a total transaction of $825,466.65. Following the transaction, the insider owned 80,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,052,185.77. This trade represents a 2.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Cynthia Tregillis sold 1,007 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.36, for a total value of $481,708.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 112,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $53,650,465.80. The trade was a 0.89% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 25,436 shares of company stock valued at $11,340,064 in the last quarter. 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.