Cetera Investment Advisers Grows Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 48.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 45,112 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,809 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in Western Digital were worth $2,887,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of WDC. SYM FINANCIAL Corp bought a new stake in Western Digital in the second quarter worth about $225,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 9.6% during the second quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 30,434 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,938,000 after buying an additional 2,656 shares during the last quarter. Parsifal Capital Management LP grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 32.0% during the first quarter. Parsifal Capital Management LP now owns 897,574 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $36,289,000 after buying an additional 217,574 shares during the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the second quarter worth approximately $233,000. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 1st quarter worth approximately $35,406,000. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Western Digital news, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 1,768 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.00, for a total transaction of $272,272.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 3,585 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $552,090. The trade was a 33.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.69, for a total transaction of $3,013,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 645,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,265,422.23. This trade represents a 3.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 34,911 shares of company stock worth $4,588,187 in the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Western Digital Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of Western Digital stock opened at $157.74 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $53.93 billion, a PE ratio of 30.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.81. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $135.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $91.96. Western Digital Corporation has a 1 year low of $28.83 and a 1 year high of $178.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

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

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 4th will be paid a $0.125 dividend. This is a boost from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 4th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is 7.28%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WDC has been the topic of several research reports. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Western Digital from $90.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Loop Capital increased their price target on Western Digital to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Citigroup raised their price target on Western Digital from $135.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $105.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Western Digital from $92.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Western Digital presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $162.16.

Western Digital 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.