AXQ Capital LP Takes Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

AXQ Capital LP bought a new position in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 11,246 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,350,000. Western Digital comprises 0.5% of AXQ Capital LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Compound Planning Inc. lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 7.5% during the 3rd quarter. Compound Planning Inc. now owns 5,195 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $624,000 after buying an additional 363 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 19.0% in the 3rd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,163 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $740,000 after buying an additional 986 shares during the period. Verus Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital in the third quarter valued at $269,000. Clearstead Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 9.6% during the third quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 2,714 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $326,000 after buying an additional 238 shares during the period. Finally, OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Western Digital by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,754 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $451,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WDC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. New Street Research set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Weiss Ratings upgraded Western Digital from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Western Digital from $94.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Western Digital from $200.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $310.00 price target on Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Western Digital has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $265.58.

Insider Activity

In other Western Digital news, Director Matthew E. Massengill sold 36,926 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.43, for a total transaction of $9,616,638.18. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 623,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $159,288,807.84. This represents a 3.11% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 66,954 shares of company stock worth $17,111,480 over the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Western Digital Stock Down 1.8%

NASDAQ:WDC opened at $280.42 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $230.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $161.03. The company has a market capitalization of $95.07 billion, a PE ratio of 28.13, a P/E/G ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.79. 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 Corporation has a 1-year low of $28.83 and a 1-year high of $309.90.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $3.02 billion during 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 was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.77 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

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 paid a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 5th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 5.02%.

About Western Digital

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.