Kovack Advisors Inc. Sells 2,367 Shares of Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Kovack Advisors Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 41.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,384 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 2,367 shares during the quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $406,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised 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 valued at $1,698,000 after buying an additional 3,019 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in Western Digital by 229.7% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,388 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 967 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter worth about $307,000. D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its stake in Western Digital by 318.9% in the 2nd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 23,847 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,526,000 after acquiring an additional 18,154 shares during the period. Finally, Forum Financial Management LP lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 3.4% during the second quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 5,895 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $377,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WDC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Susquehanna reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $285.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, February 6th. Argus set a $300.00 price target on Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Citigroup lifted their price target on Western Digital to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Loop Capital increased their price objective on Western Digital to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Western Digital presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $265.58.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of WDC opened at $285.52 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $96.80 billion, a PE ratio of 28.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.79. 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 has a 50-day moving average price of $227.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $159.58. Western Digital Corporation has a 12-month low of $28.83 and a 12-month high of $309.90.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 35.52% and a return on equity of 41.53%. Western Digital’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.77 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 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 5.02%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Roxanne Oulman sold 1,800 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $596,524.46. This represents a 31.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.44, for a total value of $5,108,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 623,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $159,288,807.84. This trade represents a 3.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 70,522 shares of company stock worth $17,661,708. Corporate 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.