DAVENPORT & Co LLC Makes New $369,000 Investment in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

DAVENPORT & Co LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 3,070 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $369,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of WDC. Raymond James Financial Inc. grew its position in Western Digital by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 107,187 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $4,334,000 after purchasing an additional 446 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 28.0% in the first quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 5,940 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $240,000 after buying an additional 1,300 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 354.1% during the first quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 5,863 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $237,000 after buying an additional 4,572 shares during the last quarter. Vident Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the first quarter valued at about $214,000. Finally, 683 Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 13.8% during the first quarter. 683 Capital Management LLC now owns 500,000 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $20,215,000 after acquiring an additional 60,600 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WDC has been the topic of several analyst reports. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, October 31st. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $90.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Robert W. Baird set a $180.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, October 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Western Digital to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. Finally, Mizuho set a $180.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $173.65.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Western Digital news, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 1,768 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.00, for a total value of $272,272.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,585 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 2,801 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.57, for a total transaction of $449,756.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 144,596 shares in the company, valued at $23,217,779.72. This represents a 1.90% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 26,369 shares of company stock worth $4,013,785. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Stock Down 2.0%

Shares of WDC opened at $176.06 on Wednesday. Western Digital Corporation has a 1 year low of $28.83 and a 1 year high of $188.77. 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $160.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $112.08. The firm has a market cap of $60.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.82.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 7th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter. Western Digital had a net margin of 21.37% and a return on equity of 30.89%. The firm had revenue of $4.10 billion during the quarter. On average, analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a $0.125 dividend. 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%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 4th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.28%.

About Western Digital

Western Digital Corporation is a global data storage company that designs, manufactures and sells a broad range of storage devices and systems for personal, enterprise and cloud applications. Headquartered in San Jose, California, the company develops hard disk drives (HDDs), solid-state drives (SSDs), NAND flash components and finished storage products used in PCs, external storage, servers, network-attached storage (NAS) and embedded systems.

Its product portfolio spans consumer and commercial markets, including internal and external HDDs and SSDs, removable flash memory products and storage platforms for data center and enterprise environments.