285,222 Shares in Western Digital Corporation $WDC Acquired by AustralianSuper Pty Ltd

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 285,222 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $34,244,000. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd owned about 0.08% of Western Digital as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WDC. ORG Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 124.5% during the 3rd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 211 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the period. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its stake in Western Digital by 4,070.0% during the second quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC grew its holdings in Western Digital by 86.9% in the second quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 441 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the period. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. increased its stake in Western Digital by 551.4% in the third quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Grove Bank & Trust acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Stock Down 7.2%

WDC opened at $250.61 on Wednesday. Western Digital Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $28.83 and a fifty-two week high of $309.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.14, a PEG ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.76. The company’s 50-day moving average is $241.89 and its 200 day moving average is $169.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.19.

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

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 5th will be given a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 5th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 5.02%.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, Director Matthew E. Massengill sold 36,926 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.43, for a total value of $9,616,638.18. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 214 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.11, for a total transaction of $61,227.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 133,781 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,276,081.91. The trade was a 0.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 64,805 shares of company stock worth $16,846,612 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on WDC. Wall Street Zen downgraded Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on Western Digital to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Argus set a $300.00 target price on Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Loop Capital lifted their price target on shares of Western Digital to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Finally, UBS Group set a $306.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, January 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $265.58.

Western Digital 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.