Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Buys New Holdings in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 55,591 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,674,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WCM Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the third quarter worth approximately $791,317,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Western Digital during the second quarter worth $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 valued at $195,882,000 after buying an additional 2,910,062 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 175.4% during 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 buying an additional 784,645 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 338.3% during the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 936,313 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $59,915,000 after acquiring an additional 722,702 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Stock Up 0.3%

WDC stock opened at $285.52 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $96.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.64, a P/E/G ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.80. 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 stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $227.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $158.41. Western Digital Corporation has a 1-year low of $28.83 and a 1-year high of $309.90.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.20. The company 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 revenue for the quarter was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.77 EPS. Analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 presently 5.02%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WDC has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Susquehanna restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $285.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, February 6th. Loop Capital lifted their target price on Western Digital to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $340.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on Western Digital to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $265.58.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Roxanne Oulman sold 1,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.42, for a total value of $277,956.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,863 shares in the company, valued at approximately $596,524.46. This represents a 31.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Matthew E. Massengill sold 36,926 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.43, for a total value of $9,616,638.18. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 70,522 shares of company stock worth $17,661,708 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.