Alps Advisors Inc. Invests $561,000 in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Alps Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 4,670 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $561,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WCM Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Western Digital in the 3rd quarter worth $791,317,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter worth about $220,680,000. Soroban Capital Partners LP lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 1,926.3% in the second quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,061,134 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $195,882,000 after acquiring an additional 2,910,062 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 175.4% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,232,071 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $78,347,000 after purchasing an additional 784,645 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in Western Digital by 338.3% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 936,313 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $59,915,000 after purchasing an additional 722,702 shares in the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of WDC stock opened at $284.10 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The business has a 50 day moving average of $214.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $149.58. Western Digital Corporation has a 52 week low of $28.83 and a 52 week high of $307.50. The company has a market cap of $96.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.50, a PEG ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 1.80.

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

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on WDC shares. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on Western Digital to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Argus set a $300.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Loop Capital increased their price objective on shares of Western Digital to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $325.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Monday. Finally, Susquehanna restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $285.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $265.58.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In related 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Roxanne Oulman sold 1,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.42, for a total transaction of $277,956.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 3,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $596,524.46. The trade was a 31.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 70,522 shares of company stock valued at $17,661,708. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.