Ameritas Advisory Services LLC Makes New $83,000 Investment in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Ameritas Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 1,303 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $83,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 46,586 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,981,000 after buying an additional 1,191 shares during the period. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 2nd quarter worth $393,000. Pure Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth $222,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 187.1% during the 2nd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 361,709 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $23,146,000 after purchasing an additional 235,738 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 21.5% during the 2nd quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 11,140 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $713,000 after purchasing an additional 1,972 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Western Digital Stock Down 3.6%

Western Digital stock opened at $115.42 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $39.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.77. Western Digital Corporation has a 52 week low of $28.83 and a 52 week high of $137.40. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $94.78 and its 200 day moving average price is $66.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 7th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter. Western Digital had a return on equity of 24.93% and a net margin of 14.13%.The firm had revenue of $4.10 billion for the quarter. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 4th were issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 4th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.77%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Western Digital news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 353 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.90, for a total value of $28,557.70. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 27,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,218,682.50. This trade represents a 1.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 11,343 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.29, for a total value of $1,024,159.47. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 151,596 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,687,602.84. The trade was a 6.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 49,730 shares of company stock valued at $3,921,594 in the last three months. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Western Digital to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Western Digital from $45.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Benchmark upped their price objective on Western Digital from $85.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 15th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Western Digital from $92.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $94.63.

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.