Chapin Davis Inc. Acquires New Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Chapin Davis Inc. acquired a new stake in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 80,732 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $9,693,000. Western Digital comprises about 2.4% of Chapin Davis Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. SYM FINANCIAL Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 2nd quarter worth $225,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 9.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 2,656 shares during the period. Parsifal Capital Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 32.0% in 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 purchasing an additional 217,574 shares during the period. Greenleaf Trust acquired a new stake in Western Digital during the second quarter worth about $233,000. Finally, Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Western Digital by 7.1% during the second quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 118,888 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $7,594,000 after purchasing an additional 7,913 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 1,768 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.00, for a total transaction of $272,272.00. Following the completion of 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Roxanne Oulman sold 1,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.42, for a total value of $277,956.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,863 shares in the company, valued at $596,524.46. This represents a 31.79% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 26,369 shares of company stock valued at $4,013,785. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Western Digital Stock Performance

NASDAQ WDC opened at $175.01 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The company has a market cap of $59.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.82. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $151.16 and a two-hundred day moving average of $104.40. Western Digital Corporation has a 1-year low of $28.83 and a 1-year high of $188.77.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 7th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The business had revenue of $4.10 billion for the quarter. Western Digital had a net margin of 21.37% and a return on equity of 30.89%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 4th were paid a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 4th. This is an increase from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Western Digital’s payout ratio is 7.28%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on WDC shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Western Digital to $228.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Benchmark raised their target price on Western Digital from $115.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Monday. UBS Group raised their price objective on Western Digital from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Western Digital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $173.65.

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.