WCM Investment Management LLC Acquires Shares of 6,778,460 Western Digital Corporation $WDC

WCM Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 6,778,460 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $791,317,000. Western Digital comprises approximately 1.6% of WCM Investment Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. WCM Investment Management LLC owned about 1.98% of Western Digital as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 7.7% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 41,988 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,698,000 after purchasing an additional 3,019 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in Western Digital by 229.7% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,388 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 967 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the second quarter valued at $307,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 2.6% in the second quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 46,586 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,981,000 after purchasing an additional 1,191 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameritas Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter valued at $83,000. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WDC has been the topic of several analyst reports. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Citigroup upped their target price on Western Digital to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of Western Digital to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. UBS Group set a $306.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday. Finally, Evercore ISI reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, January 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $253.29.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WDC opened at $270.26 on Tuesday. Western Digital Corporation has a one year low of $28.83 and a one year high of $285.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $195.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $139.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $92.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.11, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.78.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $3.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 35.52% and a return on equity of 41.53%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.77 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 5th will be issued a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 5th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 5.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Western Digital news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 2,801 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction 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 directly owned 144,596 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,217,779.72. This trade represents a 1.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Roxanne Oulman sold 1,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.42, for a total transaction of $277,956.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,863 shares in the company, valued at approximately $596,524.46. The trade was a 31.79% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 6,816 shares of company stock worth $1,102,348 in the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Western Digital Company Profile

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.