Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Shares Gap Up Following Earnings Beat

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Friday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $138.13, but opened at $155.50. Western Digital shares last traded at $149.0730, with a volume of 5,279,463 shares.

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 business had revenue of $4.10 billion for the quarter.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 4th will be paid a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 4th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. This is an increase from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 5.82%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WDC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wedbush raised their target price on Western Digital from $90.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Western Digital to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $180.00 price objective on Western Digital in a research note on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $151.63.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 353 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.90, for a total transaction of $28,557.70. Following the sale, the senior vice president 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 11,343 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.29, for a total value of $1,024,159.47. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 151,596 shares in the company, valued at $13,687,602.84. This trade represents a 6.96% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 49,730 shares of company stock worth $3,921,594 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Western Digital by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,938,495 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,736,003,000 after buying an additional 478,728 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Western Digital by 2.0% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,305,289 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $593,045,000 after buying an additional 186,030 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP increased its position in Western Digital by 8.5% during the second quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 5,535,972 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $354,247,000 after buying an additional 431,419 shares during the period. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. increased its position in Western Digital by 130.0% during the first quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 5,029,359 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $203,337,000 after buying an additional 2,842,822 shares during the period. Finally, Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. increased its position in Western Digital by 17.1% during the second quarter. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. now owns 3,735,296 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $239,022,000 after buying an additional 545,500 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $51.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.77. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $110.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $76.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

About Western Digital

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.