M&T Bank Corp Has $540,000 Stock Position in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)

M&T Bank Corp decreased its stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 13.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,336 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 2,143 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $540,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in WDC. BNP Paribas boosted its stake in Western Digital by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas now owns 26,415 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,575,000 after buying an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Western Digital by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,817 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $228,000 after buying an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake in Western Digital by 19.8% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,385 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $89,000 after buying an additional 229 shares in the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL boosted its stake in Western Digital by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 19,124 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,140,000 after buying an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Western Digital by 8.4% in the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,309 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $197,000 after buying an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WDC. Citigroup upped their target price on Western Digital from $62.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Benchmark raised Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. TD Securities cut their price target on Western Digital from $80.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Susquehanna cut their target price on Western Digital from $72.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, BNP Paribas reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, May 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Western Digital presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $64.47.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,729 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.88, for a total transaction of $94,887.52. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 40,089 shares in the company, valued at $2,200,084.32. This trade represents a 4.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 11,379 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.19, for a total transaction of $548,354.01. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 605,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,178,129.39. This represents a 1.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 13,353 shares of company stock worth $657,454. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Western Digital Trading Up 0.9%

WDC stock opened at $67.53 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $23.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.79 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a quick ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $56.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $53.17. Western Digital Corporation has a 52 week low of $28.83 and a 52 week high of $79.11.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.30. Western Digital had a net margin of 13.33% and a return on equity of 20.58%. The firm had revenue of ($1,465.00) million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.63 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 33.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.59%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.58%.

Western Digital declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, May 13th that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the data storage provider to purchase up to 11.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Western Digital Company Profile

Western Digital Corporation develops, manufactures, and sells data storage devices and solutions in the United States, China, Hong Kong, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, rest of Asia, and internationally. It offers client devices, including hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid state drives (SSDs) for desktop and notebook personal computers (PCs), gaming consoles, and set top boxes; and flash-based embedded storage products for mobile phones, tablets, notebook PCs, and other portable and wearable devices, as well as automotive, Internet of Things, industrial, and connected home applications.